Of Clips and Ribbons
by Keisuke Cloudberry
Summary: COMPLETE! Transferring to a new school ain't easy, especially when that school is where one of your most hated persons study. But meeting new friends and not to mention love interests will make it a lot easier and enjoyable for you, right? Kiri/An/Marui
1. Big news for the queen of arcades

**Title**: Of Clips and Ribbons

**Summary**: Ann enjoyed her life at Fudoumine but things will change when her school had chosen her for the student visit program. Will she fit in at her new school, Rikkai? R&R onegaishimasu!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own POT. If I did, my favorite pairings would've been cannon by now.

* * *

A certain Ann Tachibana entered the Kanagawa mall to meet up with her brother, Kippei. They agreed to meet at the sports center at the time of 2pm.

"I'm so late! Onii-san is going to be really angry!" Ann thought as she remembered that her brother wasn't the kind of person to wait for a long time.

She was pretty lost. After all, the Kanegawa district was new to her. This was the first time she visited the place and it was her brother's order. He told her that he had to meet with her saying that he had to tell something really important. Ann, being the obedient sister she is, agreed. "But why in Kanegawa?" She asked herself. It was for her to find out. She browsed every store she could see, but none of those seemed to be the sports center.

She spotted a store, at the other end of the hall, it looked like that was it. She could see the tennis rackets and basketballs the store displayed. She hastily approached the store and didn't notice that she had bumped into someone. Suddenly she stops, noticing that someone gently tapped her back. She turned to see the person and she saw a red-head guy who blew a gum before he finally spoke.

"Hey sorry." The person said. "Are you okay?" He asked and gave an apologetic smile. Ann smiled back at the person. "Yeah, sorry, but I have to go." Then she waved goodbye and continued to walk.

The other person too was about to leave when he noticed a shiny heart-shaped pin on the ground. He picked it up and assumed that it belonged to her. Maybe it had fallen when they bumped into each other. He tried to call on Ann but she had already disappeared from the crowd. He sighed and kept the clip inside his pocket and left.

* * *

Ann hurried inside of the sports center and looked for her brother at once. She looked around but her brother was nowhere to be found. Several minutes had passed and still no sign of her brother. She heard a loud beep and noticed that it was her phone.

"Hello?" She answered. "Nii-san! Where are you now? I've been looking for you." She said.

"I'm going to be late for a few minutes because I'm talking to someone really important right now, Can you still wait?" Her brother answered.

"Sure but what am I supposed to now?"

"Ann you're a girl, do what girls do at malls, like shopping."

"But that's girly."

"Ann, you're a girl."

"But—"

"I have to go now, see you later." And he hung up.

Ann left the sports center and started to wander around the mall, looking for interesting stores to visit. Then she suddenly remembered the guy she had bumped into earlier. The person seemed so familiar, as if she had seen him before. Bright red hair and lavender colored eyes and that bubble gum blowing mouth too, seemed really familiar. Her thoughts were disturbed when her hair went on her face. She reached for her clip to fix her hair but her clip was not there anymore. It had fallen off, she assumed. She frowned, it was one of her favorite clips and it just fell off like that.

After her long wandering around, she passed by an arcade and went inside, hoping to find a game to play and kill time. She had always been fond of arcade games and she enjoyed the times with the Fudoumine tennis team. She's actually good enough to beat Kamio and Uchimura, who were supposed to be experts in arcade games.

She entered and looked at the different games people were playing. She passed by a crowded area and decided to check out what they were fussing about. She saw two guys playing a versus battle game. She didn't see their faces but the other one seemed familiar, the one with the curly black hair. It reminded her of someone irritating and she can't help but get annoyed with the person. The guy with the curly black hair smirked as he beat the other person.

"What a brat." Ann mumbled. Unfortunately, she was close enough to be heard by the 'brat' and he stood up and turned to face Ann.

"Who said—" The person stopped when he saw Ann, their faces turned sour with irritation and annoyance when they saw each other.

"You!" They said in unison. "What are you doing here!"

"Duh, this is the arcade idiot. Guys always go here." He pointed out. "Maybe you're a guy too, Ta-chi-ba-na."

"Shut up. And who do you think you are, king of this arcade? Ki-ri-ha-ra." Ann replied with annoyance.

"Fortunately, I am the king here." He dryly said.

"Tch, I've watched your game and you aren't even that good." She insulted. "Kamio-kun is soo much better than you in playing."

It became silent, Kirihara gave a devilish smirk. Ann gulped, looking at his expression. She knew what was coming next.

"Then how about we play?" He challenged.

"Oi, Akaya, she's a girl. She doesn't know how to play this game." A guy named Jackal said.

"It's okay, she's not gonna accept it anyway. And besides, she's the one who started it." Kirihara simply said. "She's scared."

"Fine." Ann suddenly spoke. Kirihara raised a brow.

"Fine what?" He asked.

"I'm playing." She said as she sat on the chair to play. Kirihara smirked, knowing that he'll win easily. He also proceeded to sit and start the game.

"First one knocked out loses." He announced. "And no rematches."

"Fine."

They started to play. At first, Kirihara was beating Ann badly and started to insult her saying that she's no good at the game. Out of irritation, she pushed a couple of buttons that made her character do a special attack and beat Kirihara in one hit. His eyes widened. Jackal snorted at the dumbfounded Kirihara and the crowd became silent. Ann had won.

"How'd you do that?" He asked, still shocked from losing.

"Don't know, just pushed a couple of buttons and beat you." Ann replied in an insulting tone.

"I demand a rematch!" Kirihara shouted. "You cheated!"

"No matter what you say, I still won." Ann said. "And how am I suppose to cheat?" Ann asked sarcastically. "Also, you said no rematch right?"

"You were just lucky." He mumbled and rolled his eyes.

"No, you're just weak." She shot at him.

"Face it Akaya, you lost. In the game and the insults." Jackal told him while trying to suppress his own laughter. Kirihara kept silent.

Suddenly, Ann's phone rang. "Nii-san? You're there already? Okay, I'm coming."

"Hey, I have to go…" Ann said as she stood up. "...See you later loser king."

"What?" Kirihara shouted and she ran off.

Just then, Niou and Marui arrived and Niou saw Ann running off. They both approached Jackal who was laughing simultaneously. Marui raised his brow, looking at Jackal's face.

"What's up?" Niou asked.

"Akaya…" He started, still laughing. "…Lost to a girl, in his favorite game too."

Both looked shocked. "The self proclaimed king of arcades who was never beaten before, lost to a girl?" Marui questioned.

"Was it that girl running a while ago?" Niou asked as he remembered the girl he saw.

"What girl? I didn't see any girl around here." Marui said.

"Yeah, the one with the brown hair," Jackal answered, ignoring Marui's question.

"That makes the girl the queen of arcades huh?" Niou said and called on Kirihara. "Oi, Akaya! Did you find your queen?"

"What!" Kirihara impatiently asked, irritation seen on his face. " And I did not lose to her, Jackal-sempai!" He defended.

"Dude, you were beat in one hit." Jackal informed. The other two smirked.

"She was just lucky!"

"So, who's the girl?" Niou queried. Kirihara refused to answer.

"I think she's Tachibana's sister." Jackal said. "She's also the one who made Akaya fall off the stairs."

"I don't know her."

"You just called her Tachibana a while ago." Jackal said.

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, right."

* * *

Ann finally met up with her brother but not is all happy because the news Kippei gave her didn't seem to please her.

"Ann, the principal of our school had already talked to me and they have chosen you to be a part of the student visit program." Kippei started. "Since you can fit in very fast and they said that you're good in socializing."

"Really? What school?" Ann asked excitedly at first. Her smile disappeared when she heard a single word that she did not like one bit.

"Rikkaidai."

"What?!"

TBC

* * *

A/N: That's all for now! I hope you leave a review! Thanks to Sempai-sama for the ideas. It really helped me.

-Keisuke-


	2. Ann and the trickster

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything, just the plot of this story.

**Summary**: Ann meets the one and only trickster! She'll also be able to meet the infamous Yukimura Seiichi. Will these two people help Ann cope up in Rikkai or will Niou cause more trouble for her? Please R&R.

* * *

"What?!" Ann gasped, shocked from the news her brother informed her. "Rikkaidai? Why does it have to be there?" She frowned.

"I can't do anything about it. You are to attend Rikkaidai for a whole week." Her brother tells her.

"But nii-san! It's Rikkaidai! People there are pretentious and annoying! Especially that Kirihara guy." Ann complained.

"It's the principal's orders. It seems that she is in good terms with Rikkai's principal and they decided to launch a Student visit program." He said. "And they have chosen you as the participant for this program."

"But why me?" Ann asked absent-mindedly.

"Like I said Ann," He started. "The principal sees in you the traits someone needs to have in order to adopt to new places quick, your personality which is friendly, outgoing and outspoken makes her think that you're the most suitable person to do this job." He finished. "You wouldn't want to disappoint the principal, would you?" He added.

Ann sighed, she knew there isn't any way out of this. All she could do is accept the proposition and live up with the one-week-with-Rikkai agreement. After all, she owed their principal a lot, the principal had always treated her kindly and helped her in times of need. "Fine I agree then, it's for the principal anyway." She sighed

'_As long as I won't be classmates with that stupid Kirihara it's fine with me' _She thought nonchalantly.

"Then it's settled. I'll inform the principal that you had already agreed and we'll prepare all the necessary things needed." He said plainly.

As they were talking of the details about the program, someone approached them. The person smiled and waved at Tachibana Kippei. Kippei saw him and greeted him. Ann raised a brow, looking at her brother who was shaking hands with the other person. The person looked like the buchou of Rikkaidai's tennis team, Yukimura Seiichi.

"Good afternoon, Tachibana-san." The person greeted.

"Good to see you, Yukimura-san." Kippei greeted back.

"Our principal sent me here to welcome you and talk about the program." Yukimura informed.

"Our principal told me that you'll be coming here too." He said.

Yukimura noticed Ann and smiled at her. Ann blinked. "Is she the one?" Yukimura asked.

"Yes, she's my sister, Ann."

"Well nice to meet you, Ann-chan." He greeted Ann with a gentle smile.

"Thank you, Yukimura-san." Ann smiled back.

Yukimura turned to Kippei. "She seems like a very nice and obedient person." Yukimura complimented. Kippei nodded and he turned to Ann.

"Oh yeah, you'd be living with Yukimura-san and his family at their house for the week. Isn't that right, Yukimura-san?" Kippei said. Yukimura only nodded.

"You're welcome to our home, Ann-chan."

Ann blinked again. She looked really confused at the moment. Her mind is a little bit messed up from the happenings. She hadn't absorbed the situation quite yet. Things happen so fast for her, it was just like yesterday she was cheering out for Fuji-san's match against her most hated person, Kirihara, and now she's transferring to his school for a student visit program. Heck, there is even a possibility that she will be his classmate! Oh, she doesn't want that, not ever.

"Ann-chan?" Yukimura asked in a worried manner. "Are you okay?"

Ann snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face Yukimura. "I'm fine. Sorry about that." She answered and let out a sheepish grin.

"I bet you're hungry." Yukimura concluded. "Maybe some ice cream would make you feel better."

"Ahh! No thanks, I'm fine."

"My treat." He beamed. "Come on let's go. Tachibana-san, Ann-chan."

"Thank you very much." The Tachibanas said in unison. Yukimura only smiled. "You two are really siblings."

'_I guess not all people from Rikkai are annoying.' _Ann thought happily as she and her brother followed Yukimura towards the ice cream store.

* * *

"Yukimura-san, thank you for the treat!" Ann said happily. "You're a really nice person."

"No problem. So we'll be expecting you tomorrow?" Yukimura reminded.

"Hai!" Ann replied.

"We'd better go Ann, it's getting late." Kippei told Ann, then turned to Yukimura. "Yukimura-san, it was nice talking with you."

"Same here." Yukimura answered.

Kippei and Ann left and Yukimura waved goodbye to them.

* * *

That night, Ann already prepared all of her things for the next day. It seems that Yukimura had encouraged her to attend Rikkai. He seemed so nice that it reminded her of her brother.

'_Yukimura-san is also caring and friendly, like nii-san acted towards me. He and I had always been closed with each other, maybe because there were only the two of us at our house, since our parents are always busy working. I really loved my brother even though he can be aggressive in playing tennis. But that didn't matter, he already changed. Unlike that Kirihara.' _She thought randomly

'_And why did Kirihara suddenly went into the topic?' _She thought as she finished and got ready for bed. Tomorrow is gonna be exciting.

Morning came and She readied to leave their house. Kippei, who was readying breakfast, suddenly talked to her,

"You look like you're happy to go." He drawled at Ann and she only smiled.

"Well, it would be a great experience to transfer schools." She answered.

"Why do I feel like you're happy leaving me here?" He joked and Ann only chuckled.

"Nii-san, I'm really happy to be away from you." Ann said sarcastically and then she hugged her brother.

"I'm gonna miss you Nii-san." She muttered.

"It's only for a week. Don't worry." He answered. Ann released Kippei from her hug and pouted.

"Now I'm the one feeling like you're happy that I'd be away." She mumbled then grinned.

"Eat now and get ready to go. The train would be leaving in an hour and a half or so," He reminded and Ann proceeded to eat.

* * *

_'Will I be okay there?_' Ann thought as she stared at the window of the train. She had already been inside the train for a while now.

_'Would I even fit in with those people?'_ She began to doubt again when she remembered what happened between her and Kirihara during the senbatsu camp.

_'I'll be arriving there in a few minutes: Kanegawa.'_ She thought. And suddenly her seatmate tapped her.

"I just noticed, but are you Ann Tachibana?" The person who had bleached hair asked. Ann blinked.

"Uh yeah. Why?" She asked and the person grinned. She examined the person for a while and she finally spoke. " You're from Rikkai aren't you?"

"How'd ya know?" He asked. Ann only pointed at the guy's jacket. The person grimaced. "Interesting."

"What?" Ann asked him.

"Say, you're the one who made Akaya fall from the stairs right?" The person suddenly asked. Ann gave him a confused look.

"Oh! I forgot, I'm Niou." He introduced himself as he offered his hand for a handshake.

"Ann." She answered and they shook hands. Niou grinned.

" So, you did push Akaya huh?" He stated. "That was very brave of you."

"Hey, I didn't push him intently. It was his own stupidity anyway." She sighed. "Why do people get the wrong idea?"

"I actually found that amusing." Niou said. "The brat sulked after that, saying that he'd never talk to girls again."

"Really?" She asked innocently. Niou nodded.

Both of them suddenly laughed so hard that the other passengers looked at them with browsed raised. They slowly stopped laughing and Ann apologized.

"So that guy sulks, huh?" Ann said between her giggles. "I can totally imagine that."

"Yeah, and you know once he broke one of our trophies and he ran towards one of our teammates and pleaded not to tell what happened to our fukubuchou!" Niou stated. "Unfortunately, our vice captain found out and Akaya earned a slap from him."

Ann chuckled even more. "That guy sure is a trouble maker." She remarked. "Anyway, Niou-san, why are you here?"

"I visited one of my friends from Tokyo yesterday and slept there. I only decided to go home today." He replied. "How about you?"

"Ah, I'm going to Yukimura-san's house. I'm going to study on Rikkai for a week." She informed.

"Really?!" Niou asked eagerly. "That means more fun for me! I've got someone to make Akaya go crazy." An evil grin came from Niou's mouth.

"Eh?" Ann asked, not hearing what Niou said clearly.

"Nothing!" He answered. "Oh yeah, come to think of it, I heard Yukimura buchou and Sanada-san about a transfer student when I was spying on them three days ago…" He mused.

'_Spying_?'

"I think we've arrived." Niou said as he saw the station sign. Ann snapped out of her thoughts and saw the sign too.

"Yeah. I think so too, come on let's go." She said as she stood up and got her things.

"Let me help you with that." Niou offered and got some of Ann things.

Ann stopped for a moment and frowned. She remembered that she doesn't know where Yukimura's house is. Niou stopped as well noticing Ann's blank expression.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Oh yeah..." Ann muttered and he turned to Niou. "I'm sorry Niou-san but could you tell me where Yukimura-san's house is?" Ann smiled sheepishly.

"You're going to Yukimura-buchou's house but you don't know where it is?" Niou asked with dumbfounded look on his face.

"Ahahaha, sorry but I really don't know."

'_Heh. Interesting indeed.' _Niou thought. _'Enough to make Akaya crazy.'_

"Niou-san?"

"Oh sure. It's not that far away from here anyway."

* * *

Niou and Ann knocked on Yukimura's front gate, waiting for him to answer. A few minutes later, a guy with bluish hair opened and welcomed them inside. Both of them followed him to the living room. They took a seat at the near sofa.

"Why Niou-kun, it's a surprise to see you here." Yukimura smiled at him. "It's very gentlemanly of you to accompany Ann here. I guess you hanging out with Hiroshi-kun is a good idea afterall."

"Puri." Niou mumbled.

"Do you know each other?" Yukimura asked as he too, sat down.

"Sorta." Ann replied. "We just met this morning at the train."

"You must have passed to be one of Niou's partners-in-crime." Yukimura mused. "Good for you Ann-chan.'

Ann only smiled.

"Yukimura-buchou, I have to go. I gotta meet with Hiroshi right now." Niou said as he stood up. "Ann! See ya!" And he left.

Yukimura sighed. "They are so indefatigable. I hope they aren't tiring you that much."

"Not at all! I actually find them amusing." Ann reassured. "Niou-san can be very friendly."

"Yes, he is rather friendly with people who interests him."

Their conversation was good, talking about what will happen during Ann's stay at Rikkai. Yukimura is a good choice when finding someone good to talk to and ask for advices. Ann thought.

A great person he is, Yukimura Seiichi. He can be a substitute Onii-san for Kippei, when Ann would miss him. That came across her mind when she met Yukimura and his wisdom. People from Rikkai aren't that bratty after all, Ann concluded to herself. She had a good time during their talk, Yukimura telling stories about his team, just like what Niou did a while ago about Kirihara.

'_And why did Kirihara suddenly went into topic again?'_

"Oh and thank you for pushing Akaya during the Senbatsu camp." Yukimura said.

'_Thanking me for pushing his teammate?'_

"That helped Akaya a lot. You made him realize what he is doing." He thanked and he paused for a while. "You made him change."

'_Oh, so that was it? Did that push really affected him that bad?'_

"Well, I didn't mean to do it." Ann muttered.

"Off course you didn't."

"Forgive me for asking, but where's your family?" Ann suddenly asked.

"They went on vacation."

"Oh."

They became silent for a minute then Yukimura stood up. " Why don't you get some rest? I'll show you to your room."

* * *

The next day arrived and it wasn't Ann's lucky day at all. She woke up fifteen minutes late and lost the necktie of her new school uniform.

"Ugh, I'm not really used to this uniform." Ann mumbled as she looked at herself in front of the mirror. "And where is that stupid necktie?"

"Ann-chan, breakfast is ready." A voice came from downstairs.

"Coming Yukimura-san!" She shouted and ran towards the door but stumbled on something.

"My necktie!" She exclaimed as she grabbed it. She took one last look at the mirror before she went down.

'_I would've looked better if I had my heart clip on.'_ She pouted.

"Good morning." He greeted. "That uniform suits you well." Yukimura commented as he saw Ann wearing the Rikkai uniform.

"Thank you."

* * *

"A really big school this is, Rikkaidai." Ann said in astonishment. She was awed by the big school buildings and the numerous students who entered the school grounds.

"Yo! Ann!" Niou waved at her.

"Niou-san!" Ann waved back.

Niou came closer to her and suddenly stopped when someone ran towards him shouting, annoyance visible in his voice.

"Oi Niou!!" The person shouted. "Look what you did to my notebook!" He said as he shoved his notebook on Niou's face.

"What's wrong with it?" Niou asked innocently.

"Dude, it's full of glue!" He said as he blew on his gum. "Are you blind?"

"Hey, it will dry off anyway." He replied nonchalantly.

"Whatever." The person shrugged. "You and your stupid pranks." The guy mumbled. Niou grinned. Marui was leaving when Niou suddenly spoke.

"Oh yeah… Marui!" Niou called out. Marui turned to look at him. "This is the girl who beat Akaya in the arcade last time!" Niou informed as he placed his hand on Ann's head.

Ann and Marui blinked. Both of them didn't notice each other until Niou said so. Well Ann had, but she didn't mind the person. Marui didn't even see her.

"You!" Both said in unison.

* * *

Ending 2nd Chapter here! Hope you don't mind. Oh and I'm not gonna imply YukimuraAnn here. Their relationship here are only as Bro and Sis.


	3. Luckily Unlucky

"You!" Both said in unison as they pointed at each other. Niou looked at both of them.

"You guys know each other?" Niou queried.

"What're you doing here?" Marui asked, ignoring Niou's question.

"You study here?" Ann asked at the same time that Marui asked her.

"Oi oi.." Niou said.

"Uh yeah I do, is it that obvious?" Marui was the first one to speak, answering sarcastically. "And you?"

"Student visit program. I'll be studying here for a week." Ann answered back.

"Oi oi.." Niou sweat dropped. The trickster was being ignored.

"Yeah, whatever." Marui shrugged. Then he remembered that they had bumped into each other. "Oh yeah, about you and I bumping with each other, sorry about that. Were you hurt that time?" He suddenly said.

"Oh no, not at all." Ann replied. "How about you?"

"Hey, you're not hearing me out at all." Niou reminded the both of them.

"Nah." Marui said. "How 'bout we tour you around a bit here?" Marui offered.

"Gladly." Ann accepted with a smile on her face.

'_It's like they're on their own world. They're ignoring me, the great trickster.' _Niou thought gloomily.

"Come on Niou! It's the only thing good you can do anyway." Marui said as he instructed Ann to follow him.

"Hey, like you do anything good. You even cause trouble on the Home economics dept." Niou retorted. "Cake boy."

"I do not!" Marui defended. "Stupid trickster."

"Hey, stop fighting will ya?" Ann spoke.

Marui, together with Niou, gave Ann a small tour of the school. From the lobby, the cafeteria, science lab and the Home economics room. Marui stopped in front of the home economics room and opened the door. Niou sighed, knowing that they will stay there for a while, since it's Marui's favorite room.

"And here is my favorite place: H.E. room." He said proudly. "This is where you can find all the delicious food in the school; My sanctuary." Marui said dreamily.

"Really?" Ann asked. "Are you a part of this club?"

"No, he just devour the cakes for them." Niou replied for him. A vein popped on Marui's head.

"Hey, will you stop it? I'm getting annoyed here!" Marui said with irritation.

"So?" A sly grin came from Niou's mouth as he provoked Marui.

"Arrgh!" Marui grumbled. "That's it! You're going down!" He said as he came to punch Niou. Oh yes, Marui was irritated all right.

Ann smiled sheepishly, looking at both of them. _'This guy has mood swi—'_

"WHA—"

Unfortunately, Marui tripped when he was about to punch Niou. He landed on top of Ann, who was beside Niou. Niou gasped, pretending to be shocked and covered his mouth with his hands. But behind that hand, an amused smile appeared. Niou's smile grew wider as he saw Marui's face a bit flushed because of the awkward position he's in.

They stayed in that position for a while, Marui still flushed and Ann bearing Marui's weight until she spoke. _Interesting_.

"Marui….sempai" She muttered. "Heavy…"

"E-eh?" Marui was able to say. Then he saw Ann looking like she was hurt. And saw the position they're in. "Ah…Ehhh.. Sorry!!" Marui said as he hastily stood up. He helped her stand up as well.

"Sorry…" Marui apologized again. Then he gave a glare to Niou. "It's that guy's fault." He said, eyeing him intently.

"What did I do?!" Niou asked innocently.

"Don't worry, it's okay." Ann smiled.

"Are you sure?" Marui asked worriedly.

Ann nodded. '_Really, this guy positively has mood swings.'_

"Hey sorry to interrupt your moment but we're all late for class." Niou said nonchalantly. Marui and Ann's face gave out an 'Eh!' expression.

"I have to go now! Don't wanna be late for my first day!" She winked. "See you later, Niou-sempai, Marui-sempai!" And she headed off.

Both of them waved goodbye to Ann. And as soon as she was out of sight, Marui threw a death glare at Niou.

"I hate you." He said dryly. "This is your fault."

"Puri?" Niou snorted. "That's for ignoring me. And it wasn't my fault, it's your imbecility, BAKA."

"And where did you learn the word imbecility? Yagyuu again? Do you even know what it means?" He shot.

"It means you're the stupidest person ever, BAKA." He shot back.

"Curse you." He mumbled as he left while Niou followed him.

"Stop following me." Marui grunted.

"We're on the same class, idiot."

"Arrgh."

* * *

Ann stood in front of the classroom a little bit nervous. She feared that she would be classmates with Kirihara, and have a hard time with him. She opened the door and proceeded to enter.

'_Yosh! You can do this Ann!' _She cheered herself.

"Oh! Looks like our new student has arrived!" Their teacher announced. "Come in! Come in!"

"I'm Ann Tachibana. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself with a gentle smile on her face. She scanned the room for a while, looking for any familiar faces but saw none.

"She's from Fudoumine Junior High of Tokyo. Am I right?" The teacher asked. Ann nodded. "She's gonna study here for a week so let us be nice to her."

"Thank you." Ann said.

'_Is it really true? He's not my classmate?'_ She thought happily when she didn't see Kirihara around.

"Please occupy the empty seat at the back." The teacher said. Ann did as the teacher said so. "We'll begin classes shortly."

As the teacher discussed the lessons, Her seatmate suddenly tapped her gently on her shoulder. "Hi! I'm Misaki Nanami." She said. "Nice to meet ya, Ann-chan."

"Same here, Misaki-chan." She replied.

"So, is it true that you pushed Kirihara Akaya off the stairs?" She intrigued. Ann looked at her blankly.

_'Am I really that famous?'_

"Well I just heard one of the tennis team regulars talking about him falling because of some girl named Ann Tachibana." She mused. "Was that you?"

"Umm…yeah. But don't get it wrong, I didn't push him on purpose." She sighed. _'Is that who I am known for here? The one who made Akaya Kirihara fall off the stairs?'_

"Off course you didn't mean that!" She said. "If you did, all his fangirls would have been enraged. He's been telling all that asked him that it's his own fault for falling down the stairs. He never said anything against you."

"Really?" She said. "I've always thought that he would blame me."

"Nah he didn't. Good for you."

"Speaking of him, where is he?" Ann suddenly asked.

"Oh, he's not in our class, he's on 2-B." She answered. Ann smirked a bit.

"Oh."

The class continued and Ann contemplated on all the things that happened to her. She never thought that it would be this easy to cope with her new school. She's gonna like it here. She made new friends: Misaki, Niou, Yukimura and Marui. She is really happy because she met all these people and the main reason why she's happy is because she isn't classmates with that Kirihara. Lucky.

* * *

Lunch came and she proceeded to the school cafeteria. There, she met Niou and Marui eating lunch together with other regulars. She approached them.

"Ohayou!" She greeted.

"Oh? It's you!" A person by the name of Jackal said. "The one who beat Akaya."

"Hi." She greeted agin and waved her hand.

"She's here for a student visit program." Niou informed. "Where's Akaya by the way? Haven't seen him." He asked Ann.

"Don't know." Ann simply replied. "He's not my classmate."

"What?!" Niou and Marui both exclaimed. "You're not classmates with him?"

"Nope!" Ann said and smiled.

"This is an outrage!" Niou shouted.

"Oi oi, you're over reacting." Said Marui.

"But all my how-to-make-Akaya-crazy plans won't work if you guys won't be classmates!" Niou blurted out.

"How to make wha?" An asked, confused to what Niou is saying.

"Don't mind this guy. He's an idiot." Marui said while eating his cake. "And Akaya is doing some research for his English project."

"That guy does projects?" Ann asked curiously. "I've always thought he'd be slacking off."

"Yeah. Eventually, he cares about his academics albeit he doesn't seem so."

While Ann and Marui were talking to each other, Niou and Jackal were also having their own conversation.

"You see here, Jackal. When these two start talking to each other, they won't notice anything else, not even me." Niou stated.

"Really?" Jackal asked.

"Yeah and they will ignore you until you interrupt their talk. It's like they don't notice anything else when they talk to each other. That happened this morning, and they didn't even talk to me until I interrupted them." He continued.

"Amazing." Jackal pretended to be awed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Marui said giving them a glare while Ann gave a blank stare at them.

"Nothing!" Niou grinned.

"Ann-chan!" A voice came from a girl. "Sensei is looking for you!"

"Misaki-chan. I'll be there in a sec."

"Minna, got to go again, Ja!" She told them and followed her friend.

"Bye." The three of them said.

Suddenly, Niou went to serious mode and talked to the other two.

"We must make them classmates no matter what. Who will join me?" He said seriously.

Jackal blinked. "Good decision Jackal." Niou said. "Thanks for supporting my every prank." He said emotionally.

"Eh?" Was all Jackal said.

"Count me in!" Marui said. "It wold be fun to see Akaya's reaction."

Niou backed away a bit, dragging Jackal along.

"What?" He asked.

"Hmm… You'll help? You're the triangle in this love love couple." Niou said. "You may spoil the plans."

"What? I am not the triangle of any love love couple!" Marui defended. Niou and Jackal smirked.

"Hey! I don't like that girl or anything, you perverted trickster."

"Really now? And how do you explain that flushed look you had this morning?" Niou's smirk grew wider. "And I didn't even say anything about you liking her." He smirked.

"I was not flushed!" Marui shouted. "Forget it, I'm not joining anymore."

"Hey, hey easy." Niou tried to calm him down. "I was just kidding. Off course you'll join."

"Really?!" He asked, eyes sparkling. Marui changed moods again.

"Yosh! Let's do it." Niou said as he put a soldier's helmet on his head. So did Marui.

"Dude, what's that for?" A dumbfounded Jackal asked. "And where did you guys get that?"

"Let's go!" Niou ordered.

TBC


	4. King and Queen, on a date!

Classes resumed after that and Niou wasn't able to do anything, YET. The bell had already rung before he could put his plan into action. They entered the classroom and Niou slumped on his chair, obviously bored. Marui too gave a disappointed sigh, unable to do their plan.

"Oi that's okay. We still have tomorrow." Marui said as he patted Niou's back.

"Why do we have to do classes?" Niou complained. "It's totally ruining my fun." He mumbled.

A few minutes passed, two and a half to be exact, since class started again and Marui raised his hand.

"What is it Marui-kun?" The grumpy teacher asked him, a bit annoyed because of him disturbing the class.

"Hey can I got to the bathroom?" He said and blew a big bubble from his gum.

"Marui-kun, it has only been two minutes since lunch period."

"Please?" He said, a bit pleading.

"If you really need to, fine. But hurry." The teacher replied. "And throw that gum away."

"Whatever." He mumbled as he stood up and left the room.

"Yeah right, bathroom." Niou snorted. "More like H.E. room." He whispered and went back to his sleeping.

* * *

Marui walked towards the H.E. room and passed by the boy's bathroom. There, he heard two guys talking. He came closer to the door to hear the conversation clearly. Not that he was a snoop, but the conversation held an interesting subject he can't afford not to hear.

"Hey Takahiro," A voice started. " Did you really let that Kirihara guy transfer to the other section because of your fight?" He asked.

"Yeah," The said Takahiro answered. "Since I'm in good terms with the principal here, she agreed to my request and made him transfer to 2-A." He said. "They're gonna transfer him right now."

Marui smirked a little, hearing that conclusion. He hurried back to his classroom to tell Niou the news, not bothering to finish the conversation.

"Eh? Back so soon?" Niou asked sarcastically. Marui frowned a bit and sat down to tell him the news. Good thing that they're seatmates or else it would be hard for them to talk to each other.

"Hey do you know Takahiro Nagashisa from 2-B?" Marui started. "The rich guy who can make anyone follow him?"

"Uh no, why should I care?" Niou said and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I heard that he got into a fight with our little brat and made him transfer sections because of that." He informed.

"Puri?"

"...Ann's section, to be exact." Marui smirked.

"Puri" A big derisive grin showed on Niou's face. Then he collapsed from his seat.

"Niou!" Marui shouted. The whole class looked at them.

"What on earth is going on here?" The teacher demanded for an answer.

"Niou has collapsed! I've got to take him to the clinic!" Marui replied.

"Boys, help him take Masaharu to the infirmary." The teacher said.

"It's okay. I can do it on my own." Marui said.

Marui and Niou stepped out of the classroom carefully. Marui supported Niou's body so that they can walk to the _'infirmary'_. They turned left and stopped for a while. As soon as they were out of their teacher's sight, Niou sneered and dusted his shirt.

"Nice work, Marui." Niou congratulated. "You're learning the techniques of a true trickster, acting like you're worried over me from collapsing. Where did you learn to do that?"

"Only from the best." Answered Marui. "You're better, pretending to lose consciousness."

"Off course." He grimaced and then he turned to serious mode. "Now to find Jackal."

They went to Jackal's classroom, peeking at the classroom window. Jackal spotted them and they signaled him to come out. He sighed knowing these persistent boys won't stop until he comes out.

"Another _mission_ Jackal?" Yanagi asked him, pointing at the window where two heads can be seen. One bleached spiky hair and one bloody red hair. Jackal sweat dropped and nodded.

Jackal stood up and approached the teacher, asking for permission to go to the bathroom. The teacher nodded and Jackal went out of the room.

"What up?" Jackal asked.

"Akaya is going to transfer sections!" They both said.

"Really now?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah right." He said in disbelief.

"It is so true!" Niou defended. "Is this the face of a trickster who would lie to you?" He intrigued as he pointed himself.

"Yes it is." Jackal simply replied. Marui snorted.

"Oh yeah, I'm a trickster I forgot." Niou mumbled. "Agh, just follow us to Ann's classroom to see who is lying."

"Sure, sure." Jackal said and followed them.

A person knocked on the door of Ann's classroom and the teacher opened it. The teacher talked to the person for a while, then she welcomed the person in. Ann, who was doodling on her notebook, glanced a little at the person who entered the room. She stopped and stared. She was shocked to find out who the person was.

"I'm sure everyone here knows who he is, since he's the ace player of our tennis team." The teacher started. "He's gonna be our new classmate starting today considering that the administrators transferred him to our section." The teacher smiled. "Isn't that right Kirihara-kun?"

"Mmhmm." He muttered. The teacher chuckled at his not caring expression.

"Why don't you take a seat near our new student Ann Tachibana?" She said.

"Mmhmm." He grunted. He couldn't care less. He proceeded to the seat with his bag over his shoulder and his eyes closed.

'_Ann Tachibana, Ann Tachibana, where have I heard that name before?' _He thought nonchalantly and reached his chair. He opened one of his eyes to take a glance at the one called Ann Tachibana.

'_Wait a minute, Ann TACHIBANA?!'_ Realization hits him as he saw her looking at him with her mouth opened wide.

She stared, he stared, and she stared some more. They were speechless, hmm not really.

"YOU!!" They pointed at each other and Ann stood up from her seat. The whole class stared at the two. At the same time, Niou, Jackal and Marui arrived at the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kirihara asked out loud, really stunned to see Ann on the classroom.

"Well duh, I'm studying!" Ann replied sarcastically.

"Nice retort Ann!" Niou cheered giving her thumbs up.

"No I mean, here! In Rikkai!" Kirihara said, still pointing at her.

"Umm, studying?" She answered again, giving him the same sarcastic tone she had a while ago. "And will you stop pointing at me or else I'll bite your finger off."

"Nice job!" Niou cheered again. Marui stared oddly at him.

"Dude, again with the over reacting." Marui rolled his eyes. "And remove that helmet please, it's embarrassing."

"Hey cake boy, maybe you're jealous?" Niou queried. Niou and Jackal eyed him suspiciously.

"I am not!" Marui defended.

"Please Tachibana, Kirihara, stop fighting and we'll resume the class." The teacher tried to stop them from quarreling.

"Che. Whatever stupid woman."

"Stupid king." Ann retorted. Kirihara sat down and they ignored each other.

"Okay, so we'll start." The teacher said. "The scientific name for this mammal is Mandrillus sphin—" The teacher stopped when she heard people fighting outside of the room and went to find out who those people were.

"Really now? And why are you so defensive?" He asked again, enjoying Marui's irritated look.

"Hey, I'm not gonna tolerate you to use that girl to annoy me!" Marui stated. "I don't like her and that's final!"

"Ehem." The teacher interrupted them. All of them stayed quiet, sensing the danger they are gonna be in.

'_Uh-oh, not good.' _All of them thought at the same time.

"May I ask what you three are doing here?"

"Inspection." Marui blurted out. The other two sweat dropped, giving a confused look at Marui.

"Inspection? Of what?" The teacher asked them, with brows raised.

"Uhh… Health inspection?"

"Health Inspection? By students from third year?"

"Yes Ma'am! It'll only take five minutes!" Niou remarked. It's sure that he thought of another mischievous idea.

"Okay, but make it quick, I've got to continue my class."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Niou said excitedly and the other two just followed him inside the classroom.

Niou, Marui and Jackal entered the classroom, pretending to inspect the students. Ann waved at them.

"Hey what are we going to do here?" Jackal whispered.

"Just pretend to inspect students." Niou replied.

"Niou-sempai!" She greeted. Niou approached her while Kirihara scowled.

"Don't pretend you know them, idiot." He said. Ann turned to look at him.

"Well, I do know them." She retorted. "And why are you—" She was cut when Niou suddenly moved their chair closer together, resulting Ann and Kirihara to almost kiss. **Almost**. The class gave a surprised look, including the teacher. Marui and Jackal covered their mouth, not because of shock but because of amusement.

"Niou-sempai! What the hell are you doing?!" Kirihara shouted at him as he moved away from Ann. Niou glowered.

"Don't worry, it's good for the health." He smirked and turned his back on them to leave.

"Miss Saburo, we've finished inspecting. We'll be going now." Niou said as he ordered the other two to go out.

"Ahh…"She replied, still shocked.

They left the room flabbergasted, especially Kirihara and Ann. They went to the cafeteria: their 'lair' and burst out laughing.

"Did you see Akaya's face?!" Marui asked between his laughter. "It was all red!"

"Yeah! And Ann's face too!" Jackal added. "She just kept silent!" He said and laughed some more.

"How about the entire class?!" Niou said and smirked. "Even the teacher."

"They almost kissed!" All of them shouted.

"Who almost kissed?" A gentle voice asked.

"Mura-buchou…"

"Your teacher is looking for you."

"Hai!"

* * *

Niou and Marui returned to their room because of Yukimura's order. Their teacher waited for them outside the room looking furious. Niou gulped, knowing what this means. Trouble.

"I heard from Saburo-sensei that you interrupted their class, saying you'll do a health inspection." Their teacher said. "You've made quite a ruckus there, she said."

"I should have expected that from you, Masaharu." Said the teacher. "And dragging Marui along too."

"Sensei, sensei." Niou started. "When will you ever acknowledge a trickster's passion?"

"Go to detention room after class."

* * *

Last subject came and Kirihara didn't have a good time with it. It was English after all, his worst subject. First, the teacher called him and he wasn't able to answer correctly, which earned him giggles from the girls and a smirk from that Tachibana, then, Ann totally aced English, rubbing it on his face and now, the teacher wants him to get a tutor?! Oh please, he wouldn't do that in a million years.

"Kirihara-kun, since your grades are too poor in English, I suggest that you get a tutor." The teacher said.

"I don't need one." He grunted.

The teacher scanned the room for a bit, then she smiled. "How about Ann Tachibana then?" She said. "Since she's really good in English."

"I refuse." Both of them said dryly.

"Refuse or both of you fail." The teacher warned. "It's only during after class, don't worry."

'_Great.' _Ann thought sarcastically.

"Well then, I'd be expecting more from you two, Tachibana-chan, Kirihara-kun." The teacher said happily, she seemed to enjoy their little fight.

Classes were dismissed after a few minutes and Kirihara was about to leave when Ann suddenly pulled him back to his seat. Kirihara groaned.

"We are going to study." Ann said seriously.

"No we're not, I can study on my own."

"And I suppose you learned that bananas are cats from your self study?" Ann shot at him.

"Just because you ace English, doesn't mean that you're the greatest." Kirihara shot back.

"I may not be the greatest but I'm good enough to teach it to you."

"Che."

"Sit down and listen you idiot." Ann said.

Ann proceeded to teach him the basics on English but Kirihara doesn't seem to pay attention. She pinched him, and Kirihara glared at her.

"Are you listening?"

"No."

"What's the English of tiger?" She asked randomly.

"Fish." He answered nonchalantly. She pinched him again.

"Oww! What you did that for?" He shouted at her. She pinched him again.

Just then, Marui and Niou passed by the room. Seeing both Kirihara and Ann alone in one room, his trickster senses tingled. He went inside the room Marui followed him.

"Sooo, dating after classes huh?" Niou intrigued. Marui snorted.

"Tsk, tsk. And in the classroom too." Marui said in a sarcastically disappointed tone. "Why don't you guys find somewhere else private?" He added.

"We are not dating!!" Kirihara defended.

"Really?"

"And what are you doing alone together in one empty room?" Niou said.

"I was just tutoring the idiot, Niou-sempai."

"English?"

"Yeah."

"Will you get out of here?!" Kirihara said, irritated."And weren't you two supposed to be in detention?"

"Oh sorry, were we disturbing your little date?" Marui asked with a smug look on his face.

"What? No?!" Kirihara shouted. "We're not dating!"

"Yeah, sure…" Niou said. "Come on Marui, were disturbing their date."

"We are not dating!!"

"Oooh, the boyfriend is getting angry"

"I am not her boyfriend!" Kirihara shouted as his face grew red.

Niou and Marui ran out of the room laughing their hearts out.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this one! Please let me know of what you think!


	5. Unluckily Lucky

"Arrgh! Those two!" Kirihara snarled.

"Oi come on, we've got to finish this." Ann reminded him.

"Forget it, I'm leaving." Kirihara said as he stood up and headed out.

"But your English!" Ann said.

"I said forget it! I'm leavi—" Kirihara stopped when turned the knob of the classroom door. "What the?"

"What? Weren't you leaving?" Ann said, looking at the troubled Kirihara. "You can go now."

"I can't!" Kirihara muttered, trying to open the door. "…It's locked!"

"What?!" Ann shouted as she stood from her seat and approached the door. "That can't be! Liar!"

"I can't open it!" He said as he turned the knob again and again. Ann too, turned the knob, touching Kirihara's hand.

"We're locked in!"

They turned the knob simultaneously but the door won't open. Then, Kirihara noticed that their hands were touching because both of them were trying to open the door.

"Hey, stop holding my hand!" Kirihara complained, a small blush can be seen on his face. Ann glared at him.

"I'm not holding it you idiot! Now, help me open this door!" She grumbled while she turned the doorknob again.

"What do you mean you're not holding it?!" He grunted as he looked at Ann's hand, which was on top of his.

"Aggh!" Kirihara wailed. "Niou-sempai!!"

"Forget it, we are not gonna be able to open this door." Ann sighed and let go of the knob. _"Do the gods hate me this much?!"_ She complained inside her head.

"Great, what are we supposed to do now?" Ann mumbled as she went back to her seat. "It's getting late already."

"This is your fault." Kirihara muttered randomly as he too, let go of the doorknob and sat on the floor.

"And how is it my fault?!"

"You just had to transfer here!" He said. Ann frowned.

"Hey, as if I wanted this to happen."

'_Niou-sempai, you are so dead!' _Was Kirihara's deadly thought.

* * *

A certain Niou Masaharu sneezed while on his way home.

"Hey, you alright?" Asked Marui.

"Yeah, must be from the weather." He answered as he sniffed.

* * *

Two hours had passed since Kirihara and Ann were locked inside their classroom. The sun had long gone and maybe they were the only ones left on the building. They still ignored each other though, minding their own business until Ann let out a shiver. Kirihara noticed this and began to ask her.

"What?" He asked, but not that caring.

"Nothing, I'm just cold." She answered as she embraced herself. "It's colder here during night."

Kirihara sighed and came closer to Ann. He draped his jacket over her and let her wear it. Ann stared at him, surprised from what he did.

"Eh?" Ann gave a confused look at him.

"Use it, you're cold right?" He said and sat down on the floor again.

"Thank you, Kirihara-kun!" She said as she smiled warmly at him and wore the jacket.

"Che, don't smile like that, it's irritating." He said, though his face reddened.

"Hmmph." Ann pouted. "What is your problem?!"

"You." He simply replied.

"What?!"

"Stop it, it's annoying."

"Make me."

"Arrrgh! Stop it already!!" Kirihara was downright irritated.

"Well you started it."

"Shut up or I'll tape your mouth shut." Kirihara dryly said. That did it all right, Ann did shut up.

Ann threw him an odd look. "Okay, okay, keeping quiet here." She mumbled.

They became silent for a while and Kirihara was getting sleepy. He leaned against the wall and fell fast asleep. Ann, who was slumped on her chair, stood to wake him up. She approached him and sat down beside him.

"Oi, Kirihara, wake up." She pushed him gently. "Kirihara?"

'_This guy falls asleep too fast…'_ She found it a little bit cute. Just a little bit, mind you.

"Kirihara, wake up—" She stopped when she felt Kirihara's head on her shoulder. "Oi…" After a few minutes, she sighed and kept quiet.

She ignored the weight on her shoulder and started to feel sleepy too. But before she could close her eyes, one of her classmates opened the door. The girl's eyes widened, seeing Kirihara fast asleep on Ann's shoulder.

"Oh…!" She stuttered. "…I'm so sorry!" She blushed and shut the door close again.

"Ah! Wait!" She called out, but the girl had already ran away. "Don't get the wrong idea…"

"Arrgh!! Great! Now my reputation will be ruined forever." She said and pushed Kirihara away from her. She tried to open the door but the girl had locked it again. Ann sighed. "This is your fault." She grumbled at the sleeping boy.

"What… happened?" A sleepy Kirihara asked.

"Oh nothing! Himeko just passed by here and saw us in some weird circumstance. You just had to lean on my shoulder!" Ann ranted. "When will I ever get outta here?!"

"I did?" He muttered and he was still half-asleep.

"Never mind."

They became silent again and Kirihara became sleepy again. Ann sulked, reminding herself to never wake Kirihara up again. Few minutes passed and the door flung open. Ann smiled as she saw the janitor.

"What are you two doing here?" The janitor intrigued.

"Don't get the wrong idea sir, I had enough of that." Ann said as she stood up and got her things. On her way out, she kicked Kirihara's foot to wake him up.

"Wake up, the door is open already." She informed him.

"It is?!" Kirihara's eyes snapped open. "Cool! I can go home now!" He exclaimed as he too, got his things and hurried out.

"You're an idiot." Ann grumbled as she watched Kirihara run outside of the room.

* * *

Ann safely arrived home and entered the house. Yukimura greeted her and welcomed her in. She sat down on one of the sofas, obviously tired from what happened.

"Niou told me that you'd be late because of some project and he told me that I should go home first." Yukimura informed her.

"He did?" Ann asked and Yukimura nodded. "Oh."

"Were you with one of my teammates?" Yukimura suddenly asked, eyeing the jersey Ann wore.

"Ahh." Ann nodded. "I was with Kirihara-kun a while ago."

"Oh." Yukimura smiled at her. "You should go take a rest, I'm pretty sure that you're tired."

"Thank you, Yukimura-san."

* * *

**2****nd**** day**

"Eh? H.E. day? Today?" Ann asked one of her classmates as she looked around the room and saw her classmates getting excited about something. It's already her second day studying at Rikkai and today seemed different because the class was preparing for something.

"Mmm!" Misaki answered. "This is week is full of activities and you're just in time for them! We're gonna to things related to home economics for the whole day! Instead of doing classes, we're gonna cook, bake and stuff like that!" Misaki happily explained to her.

"Oh, that sounds good."

"Yeah! And the best in H.E. from the seniors are gonna be the ones who'll teach us! Ain't that great?"

"Yeah I guess." She answered and let out a small smile.

"There they are!" Misaki shouted as she pointed at the students who entered the dorm.

Three students from the third year entered the room. Naomi Suzuma from 3-A, Marui Bunta from 3-B and… **Niou Masaharu**?!

"Marui-sempai!" Ann exclaimed as she saw him.

"Yo." Marui greeted and winked as he came to Ann.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "You're gonna be the one who'll teach us H.E?"

"Yeah." He replied. "I'm the best when it comes to baking." He proudly said.

"Puri!" Niou said. "I'm here too!"

"So Marui-sempai, you're into baking, huh." Ann said completely ignoring Niou.

"Yeah, I like baking cakes and sweets." Marui informed, also completely ignoring Niou.

"There they go again, ignoring me." Niou complained. "Come on guys, stop ignoring me."

"I like baking too, but I'm not that good with it." Ann smiled sheepishly.

"Guys, the trickster is here…" Niou tried to interrupt them.

"That's okay, that why I'm here..." Marui said. "…To help."

"…" -- Niou's reaction.

"Thank you Marui-sempai."

"Jaaaaccccccckkkkkkkaaaaaallllll!!" Niou wailed and ran out of the room.

"Eh? Niou-sempai was here?" Ann asked Marui. "Is he here to teach us too?"

Marui scratched his head. "Yeah."

"I never thought Niou-sempai would be good in cooking."

'_He's not, his trickster senses just tingled, that's why.'_

"Okay class." The teacher remarked. "Our activity will start after I introduce your student-teacher."

" Ann, gotta go." Marui said as he went in front of the class.

"They will be your student-teachers." The teacher announced and the class listened. "All from the third year, Naomi, Marui and…"

"Where is Masaharu?" The teacher asked.

"Uhh…" Marui muttered.

"Puri! Here I am!" Niou exclaimed as he entered the class with someone tied to him.

"Jackal?" Marui raised a brow.

"Niou, won't let go of me…" Jackal mumbled.

"Oi Niou, what's Jackal doing here?" Marui asked. Niou suddenly pouted.

"It's because both of you ignore me."

"Both of who?"

"You and Ann."

"We did?" Marui asked and Niou threw him an odd look with DUH written all over it. Then the teacher suddenly talked making them stop from speaking with each other.

"The class will be divided into three groups and each group will have a student-teacher to assist them. Is everyone present?"

"Kirihara-kun is not yet here." One student said.

As they were discussing, Kirihara entered the room looking tired.

"Sorry for being late…" He mumbled. The class stared at him and he stared back at them.

"What?" He asked in an annoyed tone. "I said I was sorry!"

"Okay, now that we're all here, let us proceed to the H.E. room." The teacher ignored him and went out of the room.

* * *

"The student-teachers will be the one to take over so please listen to them. I will be staying at the Faculty Room so if anyone needs help from me just go there."

"Yes sensei!" All of them answered.

Then the teacher turned to the three third years. "I expect that you'll be dividing the students **equally**."

"Hai, sensei." The three said.

"Have I made myself clear, Masaharu-kun?"

"Hai sensei." He replied with a smirk. _'Puri'_

Niou turned to the students. "Ok ok! Now let us divide you nice guys into equal groups." Marui gulped, sensing that Niou is up to something again.

"Okay, so the people in the left corner will be with Naomi-san, the middle will be mine and the right will be Marui's. Got that?" He simply said.

'_I was wrong? He's not up to something bad?' _Marui said surprisingly. _'I guess he's not that all bad after all!'_

"Sooo Marui, take good care of little Ann okay?" Niou grimaced. "Jackal and I will be watching little Akaya so that he won't mess your moment with her… I mean, so that he won't mess up the equipment for gardening."

"Dude we're cooking, not gardening."

"Cooking! I knew that." Niou said as he gave Marui a knowing expression. Marui twitched.

'_I take that back. He's a devil.'_

"Okay I'm going." Marui said dryly as turned his back on Niou and went to his group.

* * *

Marui leaned against the wall watching Ann prepare the things she needed for her cake. He watched her grease the round pans and prepare all the ingredients for the cake. After a few minutes of preparation, Ann put the batter into the pan and into the oven. He unconsciously smiled at Ann.

On the other hand, another one smiled…(more like smirk) at the sight of Marui smiling at Ann. He enjoyed the sight of his friend unconsciously smiling at some girl. This person was none other than Masaharu Niou. And the other person, by the name of Jackal Kuwahara, just threw the trickster an odd look.

Several minutes had passed and Ann got her cake from the oven and readied to decorate it. She got the pastry bag and filled it chocolate icing and started decorating the cake. Then Ann pouted for a second, which made Marui snap out of his thoughts. He approached the troubled looking Ann.

"How are things going here?" He asked. Ann only smiled at him sheepishly.

"I'm almost done but I'm having a hard time putting the icing." She said as her smile turned into a small frown. "My hand shakes when I try to place it."

"Then let me help you with that." He said as he got the pastry bag and started to decorate the top of the cake with frosting skillfully. "It's not that hard once you get used to it."

"Cool…" Ann blurted out as she observed Marui decorate the cake with ease. "My hands always shake when it comes to decorating with icing."

"You'll get used to it someday." Marui said.

_"Interesting."_ Niou muttered and then he suddenly called Kirihara out. "Oi Akaya! Come here for a sec!"

Kirihara, who was baking his own cake turned to whom was calling him. "Niou-sempai?! What is it?" He asked.

"Just come here for a sec, will ya?" He replied and Kirihara approached him.

"What?" He asked. Niou said nothing but pointed something. Kirihara turned to look at what Niou was pointing at.

What he saw was Marui and Ann playing with icing. Ann smiling at his sempai and Marui laughing continuously. They were having a little icing fight. After a few seconds, Kirihara's face turned sour.

"I am not jealous of them!!" Kirihara shouted which made the whole class look at him, including Marui and Ann. He stomped off away from Niou. Niou froze… Then he started laughing. Jackal too, let out a snort.

"Hey, Akaya! I didn't even say anything yet!" He said still laughing.

* * *

After a few seconds of staring at Kirihara, they went back to their bussiness.

"There! It's finished." Marui remarked. "It looks tasty!"

"Yeah, it looks deliciou—" Ann paused for a while.

"Eh? What's the problem?" Marui asked.

"Nothing, my hair just went into my face again." She said. "This happens more often now cause I lost my clip. I think I dropped it somewhere a few days ago."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm."

'_Clip, clip. Lost her clip?' _Marui mused.

"Ah…" Marui mumbled. "…Your clip!"

"Eh?

"Your clip!"


	6. Pineapple Chocolate cake and Sleepovers

"Your clip

**Warnings**: An ignored Niou and a forgetful Marui. Also chocolate pineapples.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything.

* * *

"Your clip!" Marui shouted making Ann a bit surprised. "It's with me!"

"Really?" Ann asked.

"I picked it up when you dropped it the time we had bumped into each other."

"What clip?" Niou suddenly asked, a smirk visible in his face. "Is that the origin of your love love relationship?"

"The heart shaped one?"

"Yeah!"

"Heart shaped?" Niou queried. "And when did that happen?"

"It's in my bag." Marui said.

"Can I have it back?"

"Ummm… Guys?" Niou muttered, sensing that he will be ignored again. "I'm here! You could at least answer me!"

"Sure, I'll go get it right now." Marui replied and went outside.

"Just acknowledge my presence please! I hate being ignored." After he saw no change in their treatment of him, he began to sob. "Jackal…"

"Ah! Niou-sempai, what are you doing here?" Ann said, noticing Niou.

"Jackal…" He whimpered.

"Niou-sempai? Since when have you been here?"

"Jackal!!" Niou bawled and ran to Jackal for a hug.

"Niou?" Jackal said. "What happened?"

"They're ignoring meeee." He sobbed again. Jackal patted Niou's head.

"There, there." He comforted. "You'll get over it someday."

"But I want attention!" He wailed as he hugged Jackal. "A trickster needs it."

Ann loomed up to them. "Niou-sempai, what's wrong?" Ann asked in a worried tone.

Niou turned to look at her. "You and Marui are ignoring me!" He told her.

"Eh? Since when?" She asked. "Did we really ignore you?"

"Where have you been…" He mumbled and hugged Jackal again.

"I'm sorry! How can I make it up to you?" She asked and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Don't mind me, just ignore me and have your little chat in your own world with cake boy." He sobbed. "I hope you'll be happy."

"Okay, I'll do anything, just don't cry anymore." She comforted him.

Ann waited for Niou's reaction but didn't receive any. Ann frowned because she thought that Niou got mad at her. "I'll do anything! I promise!" She told the childish Niou.

_On another angle:_

A big twisted smile appeared on Niou's face. How-to-make-Akaya-crazy-plan no. 3 actually worked! Wait, it's already plan no. 3?!

"Puri" He grimaced and turned to Ann. "Anything?" He asked and released jackal from his hug.

"Mmm!" She exclaimed. "Anything."

"That's good to hear!" He said, totally recovered. "Then will you help Akaya bake? He's having a hard time doing it."

"E-eh?" Ann froze, maybe doing anything for her sempai wasn't such a good idea after all. "But, Niou-sempai, weren't you the one supposed to teach Kirihara's group how to bake?"

"I'm not really good with it though, I just came here for fun." Niou said. "Gardening is not my style."

"Dude, cooking." Jackal sweat dropped.

"Cooking! I knew that." Niou said. "Now will you Ann-chan? For me?"

Ann sighed, now she has to deal with Kirihara again. "If it's for Niou-sempai, okay."

"Good!" Niou smiled as he pushed Ann towards Kirihara.

* * *

Marui hurried to his classroom to get the Ann's clip from his bag. He had kept it there since the day he found it so the clip was most likely to be there. He entered the room and went directly to his seat.

'_Agh! How could I have forgotten that!' _He mentally slapped himself. _'I can't believe I forgot that and to think that I promised myself that I'd find her to return it.' _He thought as he looked for the clip in his bag.

'_What the—'_After a few minutes, he paused. He couldn't find it anywhere in his bag. He lost it!_ ' I know I put it here somewhere.'_

He mentally slapped himself again. He had definitely lost it! "Great! I definitely lost it. What am I going to tell her now?" He said as he fell heavily on his chair. "Ann…chan"

* * *

Meanwhile Ann-chan…

"Agh! You're not supposed to put that yet you idiot!" Ann scolded Kirihara. "Everybody knows that the frosting will be the last one to be put in a cake!"

"So?" Kirihara said, completely ignoring Ann. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Because you're a total idiot, you idiot!" She stated. "Ahh! Why the hell are you putting pineapple on a chocolate cake?!"

Kirihara continued to put pineapple chunks on his 'cake' "Why not? Don't people put pineapples on chocolate cakes? You're weird."

Ann slaps her forehead. _'I'm the one to be called weird?'_

"You're hopeless."

"Hopeless my ass." Kirihara retorted as he put icing on Ann's cheeks. A vein popped on Ann's head. Jackal grinned and Niou sneered.

"The probability of Ann taking revenge is 100percent." Niou stated as he watched Ann got some frosting from the cake and wiped it on Kirihara too.

"Shut up stupid king!" She shot at him.

"And the probability of Akaya giving her a retort is 97percent." Niou copied Yanagi. Jackal stared at him.

"Amazing." Jackal said in '_astonishment'_

"Shut up! And give my jacket back!" Kirihara shot back at her. Niou slapped his forehead.

"That was one of the most pathetic retorts I've ever heard in my entire trickster life."

"…" Jackal stared. "That was a retort?"

"Oh! Oh! And see here Jackal!" Niou started, clearing his throat. "The probability of Marui seeing the scene is…"

"Ann! I'm sorry I couldn't find your—" Marui paused as he saw Ann fighting with Kirihara.

"…100 percent!" And Niou and Jackal started to laugh.

"—Clip."

"Oh, Marui-sempai!" Ann said, as she turned to face him. "Did you find my clip?"

"Umm.. No, I'm sorry, I think I lost it." Marui said and scratched his head. "I'm sorry."

"Oh…" A small frown visible on her face.

"But I promise I'll find it!" Marui said. "Don't worry—"

"No it's fine! I was thinking of buying a new one anyway." She said and smiled.

"Are you sure?" Marui asked.

"Heeey… What clip?" Kirihara intrigued.

"None of your business, idiot." Ann said. Niou's eyes widened.

"That's not fair!" He shouted. "Even though that was a retort for Akaya to shut up, they didn't ignore him!" Niou whined. "That's so unfair! I have my rights!! I don't deserve to be ignored!"

"Ann, I'll really find it and give it back to you." Marui said. Ann smiled at him.

"What an aura…" Jackal muttered.

"What aura are you exactly talking about?" Marui suddenly asked him, giving Jackal a small glare.

"Even you?!" Niou shouted. "Am I the only one ignored here?" He continued but no one was listening to him. "Jaaackkallll!!"

"There, there." Jackal comforted. "You'll get over it someday."

Kirihara suddenly let out a sigh. His face was full of icing too, and it felt sticky. "I've gotta go to the bathroom."

"Me too…" Ann said. The other three stared at them.

"What are you going to do in the bathroom?" The three said in unison.

"I'm a boy, she's a girl! We go separately you idiots!" Kirihara shouted at the three who had knowing expressions.

"Reeeaallyy…." They said again. Then Niou paused and eyed Marui.

"What? Doesn't mean that I'm starting to like her I don't get to tease them." Marui told him. Niou smirked.

'_There something wrong with what I said…Looking at the devilish smirk Niou's giving me.' _Marui contemplated. _'Doesn't mean that that I'm starting to like her I don't get to tease them.' _Marui froze and gulped. Niou's smile even grew wider. He just said it.

"Puri…"

"Uh-oh…" Marui mumbled. "Niou!"

"Puuurriii?" An amused smile appeared on his face.

"Please… It's not what you think!"

"Yeah yeah… It's not what I think." He said sarcastically. "Don't worry, I think I'm the only one who heard you." He said as he pointed at Kirihara and Ann, who were fighting again and Jackal watching them.

"Don't worry, I won't tell." Niou said and showed Marui a little recorder.

"You're a devil."

"I know."

* * *

Classes came to an end and they returned to their classroom. Ann sat on her chair as she was exhausted from baking a.k.a bickering. Misaki approached he and greeted her.

"So, how was your group?" She started. "Did you do well?"

"I guess, but I'm really tired."

"Don't worry, classes are already over and you can go home now." Misaki said.

"That's great." Ann muttered. "I'm beat."

"Oh and did you know? Niou-sempai got detention because he wasn't supposed to be the one who'll teach us?" She informed.

"Really?"

"It turns out that he bribed the one who was supposed to be the one who'll teach us into letting him be the one. How he did it was unknown."

"Scary." Ann mumbled.

"Well, gotta go!" Misaki said and waved goodbye at her. "I've got to meet with my date."

"Bye!"

Just then, Niou and Jackal entered the room and approached her.

"Yo!" Niou greeted.

"Weren't you supposed to be in detention Niou-sempai?" Ann 'greeted'.

"That hurts…"

"Sorry. So what up?"

"Nothing much! We'll be going to Yukimura-buchou's house for a sleepover! Isn't that great?!"

"We?"

"Yup! Jackal, myself, Marui and Akaya!" He stated and placed his head on Kirihara's head. "Ain't that right Akaya?"

"What? I'm not going anywhere else besides home."

"Yes you will." Niou said. "Or else."

"Fine, I'm going." Kirihara hastily said as he heard the or else remark. Who knows what tricks he has on up on his sleeves.

"Wait a minute? Sleep over? With this guy?"

"Mmm! Sleepover! With this guy!" Niou exclaimed.

* * *

Reviews would be loved. Please don't try to ignore Niou or else. Hope you liked this one!

-Keisuke


	7. Movie of Doom

**Title**: Of Clips and Ribbons

**Disclaimer**: Don't own 'em. Nuff said.

**Warnings**: None so far. Except maybe for typos. XD

* * *

"Wait, wait, sleepover?" Ann asked again, clearly not absorbing the situation. "With this guy?" She continued as she pointed at Kirihara.

"Yeeeaahh…" Niou said. "It would be fun, won't it? Now come on! Let's go!" Niou said as he dragged Kirihara and Ann out of the room.

"But!" The two complained.

Ann stopped and frowned. " But, Niou-sempai, where's Marui-sempai?" She asked him.

"Don't worry, he'll be there." Jackal assured. "He told us that he had to do something first."

"Okay…" As soon as she heard Jackal's assurance, she smiled and continued to follow Niou while Kirihara mumbled.

* * *

"Mom!" Marui called his mother who was on their kitchen. He went home right after class to find the clip that he lost.

"Bunta? You're here already?" His mother said.

"Uh yeah… Did you see any heart-shaped clip around here?" He asked.

"Clip?" She asked her son as she approached him. "No dear, I haven't seen any clip, why? Does it belong to someone special?" She smiled at him. Marui's face reddened.

"No mom, it's my friend's. I kinda lost it so I'm looking for it now."

His mom gave him a knowing smile. "You should replace that if you lost it." She said. "Wait, I'll go get something."

Marui blinked. He looked at his mother who was getting something from a small box. She took out a white ribbon and smiled at it. Then, she handed it to Marui.

"Here." She said. "Give this to her as a substitute for the lost clip and tell her that you'll give the clip back once you find it."

Marui stared at his mom for a moment, then he smiled. "Thanks." He said and hugged her. "I'll be going now!" He said as he went out of the house.

"Yeah, take care." She waved goodbye.

* * *

"Yay!" Niou exclaimed as they entered Yukimura's house. "Sleepover! Sleepover!"

"Ohayou." Yukimura greeted with a smile on his face. "Come in."

"Mura-buchou!" Kirihara hugged him.

Yukimura chuckled. "You're here too, Akaya. Good thing I invited Genichirou too." He said. Kirihara froze. "Fukubuchou?"

"Yes, now come in." He told them and they followed.

"Where will we stay, Yukimura-buchou?" Jackal asked.

"Upstairs, the room on the left." Yukimura informed.

"Thank you, we'll be going now! Akaya! Ann! Come on!" Niou said.

They went upstairs and went directly at their room. Niou entered and jumped onto the bed. "I'm tired."

Kirihara followed and jumped in too. Jackal sweat dropped and Ann just smiled at them.

Niou suddenly jumped and got something from his bag. He raised it up and talked. "I have this great movie here! Wanna watch?" He stated.

"Really? A great movie?! Let's watch it!" Kirihara exclaimed. "It's been long since I've watched movies."

"_Puri."_

"Yosh!" Niou said as he put the CD into the DVD player. He turned on the TV and waited for the show to start.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door and Ann opened it. Yukimura appeared. "Ann, would you get them some snacks first?"

"Yes! Yukimura-san." She said and followed Yukimura downstairs. "I'll be back in a minute."

Niou paused the movie to wait for Ann. "Let's wait for her."

"Gah, don't mind her." Kirihara said. "Just continue with the movie."

"_Puri." _Niou smirked. "If you say so…" He then played the movie.

The screen showed a classroom with two students in it. A girl who sat on one of the chairs and a guy who took a seat on the floor. It was kind of dark so the faces were a bit obscure.

"_What?" _A voice started.

"_Nothing, I'm just cold."_ The girl answered as she embraced herself. _"It's colder here during night."_

The guy sighed and approached the girl. He draped his jacket over her.

"_Eh_?" The girl gave a confused look at him.

"_Use it, you're cold right?_" He said and sat down on the floor again.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Kirihara paused, the scene seemed all to familiar to him. Niou was starting to laugh. "Ne, Niou-sempai, I think I've watched this movie before."

"Really?" Niou pretended to be surprised.

"I think so.."

"Puri."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

"Thank you, Kirihara-kun!" She said as she smiled warmly at him and wore the jacket.

"Che, don't smile like that, it's irritating." He said, though his face reddened.

"Hmmph." She pouted. "What is your problem?!"

"You." He simply replied.

"What?!"

"Stop it, it's annoying."

"Make me."

"Arrrgh! Stop it already!!" He was downright irritated.

"Well you started it."

"Shut up or I'll tape your mouth shut." The guy dryly said. That did it all right, the girl did shut up.

The girl threw him an odd look. "Okay, okay, keeping quiet here."

The scene became silent for a while. The guy leaned against the wall and fell fast asleep. The girl, who was slumped on her chair, stood to wake him up. She approached him and sat down beside him.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Kirihara froze. Now, he realized who the persons were, it was him and Ann the time they got locked up on their classroom!

"What're you watching?" The voice came from the person who entered the door, it was Ann holding tea and some cookies.

"None of your business, girl." Kirihara shouted as he hastily turned off the TV.

"Eh? Why won't you let me watch it?" Ann pouted as she placed the treats on the near table.

"You won't like it when you watch it, idiot." He grumbled. Then he turned to Niou. "So it was you after all!!"

"What is my ever so dear kouhai talking about?" Niou asked sarcastically. Kirihara glared even more.

"You're the one who locked that door Niou-sempai!" Kirihara shouted as he reached for a pillow and threw it at him. Niou dodged by ducking.

"Puri! You missed—" Niou was cut when Kirihara threw another one, hitting him on the face.

"It wasn't me! It's Jackal's fault!" Niou suddenly blamed and threw the pillow at Jackal, who was beside him.

"What did I do?!" Jackal shouted, getting the pillow from Niou and throwing it back. Unfortunately, Niou ducked again and avoided the throw and it hit Ann who was just on the other side of him. Kirihara started laughing. A vein popped on her head and she picked the pillow and threw it at the unsuspecting Kirihara. The pillow hit his face.

"Bull's eye!" Niou and Jackal exclaimed.

"Oww! What did I do?!" He yelled at her.

Ann smirked. "I just felt like it." And then she sticks her tongue out at him.

"Why you…" He grumbled and threw two pillows at her. She easily dodged it.

"You throw like a girl, idiot." She taunted, making Kirihara really annoyed.

"Nice retort!" Niou cheered and gave her thumbs up. Then he paused to look at Jackal. "What? You're not going to say that I'm over reacting?"

"I'm not Marui." Jackal simply said.

"Speaking of Marui-sempai, where's he?" Ann suddenly asked. Kirihara, sensing the chances of hitting her, proceeded to throw a pillow. Ann moved her head and successfully dodged his throw. She turned to him and gave him a serious look. "Seriously, you throw like a girl."

The other two laughed at Kirihara who was close to bursting with irritation. They looked at the fighting _couple_ who was looking straight at each other. Then suddenly, Niou closed his eyes. Jackal looked at him.

"Impersonating Yanagi." Niou started. "The probability of Ann giving him another retort that would make him even more annoyed: 95 percent."

"Are you really the ace of your team? Cause you obviously throw like a girl. You can't even hit someone like me." She said, perfectly annoying him.

"The probability of Akaya giving her an ultra pathetic retort is 98 percent."

"So? And you still haven't return my jacket you thief!" He shot at her.

"Really, I don't know if that's a retort or not." Jackal told Niou.

"Mada mada dane." Niou simply said.

"I didn't steal it, you lend it to me stupid." She shot back. "And I wouldn't even attempt to steal it coz it's yours."

"Agh stop it already!" Kirihara whined.

"You're the one who started it."

"Arrrgh!!"

"Final blow: The probability of Marui seeing—" Niou stopped when he heard Akaya.

"Shut up or I'll kiss you." Kirihara said. Niou's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Puri." He said and looked at the half-opened door, seeing Marui baffled after hearing the words. "Seeing and hearing: 100 percent!"

"Hah! I win." Kirihara proclaimed after looking at the close-lipped Ann. They all looked at him and kept quiet. A smiling Niou, a poker-faced Jackal, a stupefied Ann and a dumbfounded Marui. Kirihara raised brows at the quiet people. "What?! All I said was shut up or I'll…" He froze as he realized what he just said.

"Puriiii…" Niou smiled at him and eyed him suspiciously. Kirihara gave Niou a puzzled face.

"Niou-sempai! It's not what you think!" He defended.

"Yeah yeah, it's not what I think… Sure." He said sarcastically and held a recorder. "Ah, young love. You and Marui are the same." He let out a exasperated sighed.

Kirihara then turned to look at Ann, whom he thought, was still surprised. Ann stared back at him.

"Okay… That was just gross." She dryly said. "I'm going." She closed her eyes and turned to the door to leave. She opened her eyes again.

"Marui-sempai!" She said, a really happy smile showed on her face. "Finally, you're here."

"Ann."

* * *

**A/N: **So how was it? Is it too short? Let me know and leave a review. It would be much appreciated! Oh and you have time to spare, please visit my profile and vote on the poll! (Whom would you like to end Ann up with?) Thank you very much for reading!

-Keisuke


	8. Skinny and the Undersized Sempai

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, not even the ribbon. TT  
**Warnings:** Devil-mode Sanada fukubuchou and some typos :P  
**A/N:** After rereading my fic, I realized that this thing could actually be considered funny. So... dadan! It's now a Humor/Romance fic. Just saying XD. Have you voted on the polls yet? If you haven't, then please do because I might base the final pair on the result of the poll. Yay for Maru/An and Kiri/An! Spread the love, everyone and be happy! Kya!

* * *

"Ann." Marui muttered and closed the door behind him and proceeded to sit at the bed.

"Good thing you're here! I was getting tired of that childish boy over there who throws like a girl." She said as she pointed at the glaring Kirihara. Marui laughed.

"So Marui-sempai, what took you so long?" Ann asked her sempai.

"Uhh… No reason, my mom just gave me an errand to do." He excused. _'Better choose a private place to give her the ribbon or else that Niou would go nuts again.'_

"And they're off!" Niou mumbled and rolled his eyes. "No one can disturb them anymore…"

"Oh. Well, you're here now so everything's gonna be fine." She said and smiled warmly at Marui. And then she ducked. Marui gave a surprised look. Kirihara had thrown a pillow at her and obviously missed.

"Oh, he's definitely jealous." Niou whispered to Jackal as they watched the scene.

"See? I told you he throws like a girl." Ann snickered and glanced for a second at the irritated Kirihara.

"Say that again or I'll really kis—" Kirihara stopped for a moment and his face reddened. "…Kill you."

"Really now?" She asked satirically. "When you hit me then I'll allow you to kill me."

"That's it! You're definitely going down!" He shouted and threw the near pillow at her.

"Dinner is rea—" Sanada mouthed as he opened the door but when he was halfway through opening it, the pillow, which Kirihara threw powerfully, hit the door and banged it shut. And the results, Sanada hit his head **painfully**. They all froze.

"Akaya, you're dead." Niou, Jackal and Marui said all at the same time.

"Help me." Kirihara begged but didn't move. The room kept silent for a while and waited for a reaction from Sanada.

"TTTTAAARRRUUUNNDDOORRUUU!!" The door smashed open and revealed an undeniably angry Sanada. All of them backed away at the corner of the room.

"WHO DID IT?" The harsh voice came from none other than Sanada, who had a really dark aura. A big bump of sore skin visible on his head.

"When did Sanada-fukubuchou achieve devil mode?" Niou asked as he stared at him, completely astonished.

"And talk about that aura." Jackal muttered. "It's really dark and powerful."

"WHOOO?" Sanada asked again.

"It was them!" They all panicked and pointed at each other randomly. Ann pointed Marui, which earned her a pout from him. To put the blame away from him and Ann, Marui pointed Jackal and the latter pointed the closest person to him: Niou. Well, Niou pointed Kirihara and Kirihara without uncertainty, pointed at Ann.

"DDIIIIEEEE!!"

"AHH!!"

* * *

They all sat down on the dining chairs with bruises all over their faces. Except for Ann who was excused from the slapping. Yukimura and Sanada undoubtedly sat beside each other, with Marui beside Yukimura and Ann beside him, Jackal and Niou sat at the opposite side, together with Kirihara. And thus, Kirihara was the farthest from Ann, oh the angst.

"Itadakimasu!" They all said happily and started to eat.

"Yukimura-buchou, this is delicious!" Kirihara said between his chews.

"I agree with the boy!" Marui said and gobbled all of the chef-d'oeuvre on his plate.

Yukimura chuckled, pleased with all of their comments. "I had a little help from Genichirou. Ne, Genichirou?" He said. Sanada blushed and nodded.

'_They're definitely flirting.' _All of them sweatdropped as they watched Sanada and Yukimura laughed at each other. _'Like newly weds.'_

"Hey Ann, can you pass the sauce?" Marui said. Ann nodded and handed him the condiment.

"Here you go, Marui-sempai!" She said happily as Marui got the sauce from her.

"Thanks." He said and smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Another pair flirting." Niou told Jackal. "Hey Akaya," Niou called out but Kirihara didn't seem to notice him. He was too busy looking at Ann and Marui, as he fumed at his seat.

"I guess I don't need to call him and point at them." Niou said and continued eating.

"Marui-sempai, you've got something on your face." Ann said and pointed at his cheeks.

"Eh?" Marui uttered and tried to wipe the dirt on his face.

"A little to the left…" Ann said.

"Here?" Marui asked.

"Little more…" Ann mumbled.

Unknown to them, the curly haired boy had already occupied the empty seat beside Ann, obviously jealous of them.

"Here." Marui said and wiped it off.

"You got it!" Ann said.

"Can you pass the sauce?" Kirihara suddenly asked Ann. She ignored him.

"Tachibana?" Kirihara dawdled.

"What?" Ann asked him dryly.

"Pass the sauce, will ya?" He told her.

"It's in front of you idiot." She said and ignored him again.

"But I can't reach it."

"Jealous." Niou and Jackal said at the same time. Kirihara gave them a small glare.

"Please?" He pleaded. Ann let out a sigh and shoved the small bowl at his face.

"Can you reach it now?" She asked sarcastically. "And since when were you there?"

"Since now. And thank you." He replied.

"Hn." She said and continued to eating. Kirihara stared at her, and suddenly dipped his finger in the sauce and put some on Ann's face.

"You have sauce on your face." Kirihara informed her. Ann looked at him blankly.

The others sweatdropped. "Definitely jealous."

"You put it there." Ann said and wiped it off.

"There's still some here." He said and wiped her face with his fingers. Marui raised brows at him. "There! It's clean."

"Well I guess I should thank you…" She said and looked at him. "Thanks."

"Ah-eh…" Kirihara blushed furiously. Then Ann put sauce on his face. "What the—"

"It's your fault I got sauce on my face. That's my real thanks." She said and chewed her food.

"Go Ann!" Niou cheered. Yukimura smiled at the two.

"I hate you." Said Kirihara.

"The feeling's mutual." She replied apathetically.

"Gah, I really hate you!" Kirihara fumed and put more sauce on her face.

"Hey!" Ann shouted. "Why'd you do that?"

"I just felt like it." Kirihara grinned and did it again.

"Sanada…" Yukimura whispered. Then he wiped sauce on Sanada's cheeks.

"Yu-yu-yukimura!" Sanada said.

"I think we should join them." He smiled and put sauce on Sanada's face again. Sanada blushed.

"Jackal!" Niou shouted and smeared a lot of sauce on Jackal's face.

"Gah!" Shouted Jackal. "That's unfair!" He said and tried to get revenge.

"Marui-kun." Yukimura called Marui and as soon as Marui turned to look at him, Yukimura put sauce on his face too.

"Yukimura-buchou." Marui pouted. Then someone tapped his shoulder and he turned to look at the person. But as soon as he turned, Ann's finger, which was dipped with sauce, touched his face.

"Gottcha!" She smiled and winked at him.

"Hey, that's unfair!" Marui said and put some on Ann's face as well.

"Ne, Sanada-fukubuchou!" Kirihara called Sanada and threw him a small bowl full of rice and it hit Sanada's face. "Hah! Did you see that Tachibana?! I don't throw like a girl, I hit Sanada-fukubuchou's face perfectly! Beat that!"

Ann ignored him. She was too busy playing with Marui. A vein popped on Kirihara's head.

"AKAYA…" Sanada grumbled. Kirihara turned to look at his enraged vice captain.

"Eh-ah, Sanada-fukubuchou! I didn't do that on purpose." He excused. "Somebody help me!" He whispered. Everybody ignored him.

"HOW DARE YOU WASTE YUKIMURA'S COOKING?!"

"Now, now, Genichirou." Yukimura warned and flashed Sanada his _don't-hurt-Akaya-or-else-die _smile. "I'm sure he didn't do that on purpose."

"You are my savior, Mura-buchou." Kirihara said dreamily.

"Not did it on purpose?! He threw it straight at him!" Niou shouted. Then Yukimura smiled his _don't-mess-with-me_ smile at him. Niou gulped. "Well, that was just my opinion really."

They continued to play (Even Sanada, who tried to put soy sauce on Yukimura's pretty face but he decided not to do so because he wouldn't want Yukimura's face dirty.) for a few more minutes until the sauce had all ran out. They all stared at each other's sauce-filled faces and laughed.

"My, my, we all got dirty huh?" Yukimura said. "Boys, why don't you all take a bath and get ready for bed?"

"Hai!" And they all scurried to the bathroom.

"Ann, please help me and Genichirou clean up this mess." Yukimura said.

"Sure, Yukimura-san."

* * *

Ann knocked on the guys' room to give them some blankets. As soon as she heard Niou's signal to come in, she turned the knob and opened the door. She entered and to her surprise, she saw Kirihara without any shirt.

"Hey! Who told you to come in?!" Kirihara yelled at her with his cheeks tinted red. She didn't say anything and placed the blankets on the bed. She turned to leave and gave one last look at Kirihara.

"You're skinny." She said and went out. Kirihara stared at her.

"What?!"

All of them didn't move and kept silent. They stared at Kirihara for quite a while until Niou burst out laughing. Jackal snorted and Marui, who was wiping his hair with a towel stopped and laughed.

"Bwahahaha! She called you skinny, Akaya!!" Niou shouted. "That was totally unexpected! And I actually thought she would blush."

"Hey skinny boy, wear your shirt before anyone calls you skinny again!" Jackal taunted.

"Maybe you should stop drinking milk everyday and start eating more, skinny!" Marui said and laughed even more. Kirihara glared at him.

"And maybe you should stop eating every five minutes and start drinking milk more, undersized sempai." Kirihara retorted.

"Ooohhh…" Jackal and Niou said in amazement.

"Is that what I think it is? Did he finally give a good retort?" Niou asked.

"Oh that's an absolutely good retort, all right." Jackal answered.

"Are you challenging me or something?" Marui asked Kirihara dryly and gave him a serious look.

"Nope! Not at all, undersized sempai." Kirihara simply said and wore his shirt.

"You're definitely saying something." Marui glared.

"I'm not saying anything at all." Kirihara said, also having a serious look.

"Uh-oh." Niou said. "Well! I heard that there's a good movie showing on TV today! Why don't we watch it?"

"I had enough of movies tonight, sempai." Kirihara said and left the room. Marui continued to wipe his hair with the towel and ignored Kirihara.

"Hey, Akaya." Jackal tried to call him but it was no use.

"Leave him, Jackal." Marui said and sat at the bed.

"You know, you should thank that guy." Jackal suddenly said.

"And why should I?" He asked and got a stick of gum from his pocket and ate it.

"Hey, Marui." Niou said. "Remember this?" Niou asked and played a recorder.

'_What? Doesn't mean that I'm starting to like her I don't get to tease them.' _The recorder played. Marui blew his gum and closed his eyes as he lay down on the bed.

"What about it?" Marui said and blew a bubble from his gum.

"Do you know the reason why Ann didn't hear it?" Niou asked him again. "Your _sort of_ confession?"

"No. And it is not a confession." Marui replied.

"Akaya actually distracted her by pulling her hair so that she wouldn't hear." Niou explained. "Off course Ann got angry and fought with him. That guy's pretty smart, really. He actually sensed that you'll say that."

Marui's eyes widened. "So all of you heard that? Even Jackal?" He asked and the other two nodded.

"Even Akaya." Jackal said. "So thank that guy Ann didn't hear it because most girls do avoid someone if they find out that that someone they don't like likes them. Well, most of but Ann's quite unique though."

"And we're are not even sure if Ann likes you back."

"But it's not like I'm in love with her, it's just that I'm happy every time I'm with her, that's all." Marui mumbled. "And I'm sure she likes Akaya."

"_Same difference." _The other two thought_._

"Akaya, huh." Marui muttered. "Where did that guy go anyway?"

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Kirihara lay down on the roof with his hands on his head and gazed at the stars nonchalantly. The moon partially lighting his face and the cold wind brushing against his fair skin. He thought deeply about something, something he didn't quite understand. What was that he felt when he sees Ann every time she's with his sempai? Why did he feel annoyed when he sees Marui? And that feeling when he gets close to Ann? The urge to talk to her and hear her voice. Why did he always look at her when she smiles? He closed his eyes as he contemplated on those questions. These questions were definitely confusing him.

The cold wind brushed against his skin again, causing him to shiver. He tried to ignore it but it was too breezy. Then he felt something over him, something soft. He opened his eyes and saw his jacket on him. He then searched for the one who gave his jacket back and found a brunette standing there.

"You're cold right? Use it." A gentle voice said. The owner of the voice proceeded to sit down beside him. "And that's what I call sulking. Why are you sulking anyway?" The rather gentle voice turned a bit taunting.

"I'm not sulking, girl." He replied. "I'm thinking."

"Hn, really now? About what?" She asked.

"None of your business, Tachibana." He shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to gaze at the stars tonight. They seem to be lovely this time of night." She replied. "And will you stop calling me Tachibana? It reminds me of my brother."

"Why, you don't want to be reminded of your brother?" He smirked.

"It's just that when I remember him, I kinda miss him." She answered. "And I don't want to feel that. It's nostalgic."

"Hn." Kirihara said and gazed at the stars. "I'm sure he misses you too."

"Probably, yeah." Ann muttered and stared at the vast sky.

Silence took over them. Ann still gazed at the stars and Kirihara closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he fell asleep.

"You know, when I gaze at the stars, it makes me calm and feel lighthearted." Ann suddenly talked. She looked at Kirihara and was surprised to see that he had already fallen asleep. Ann let out an exasperated sigh. She promised herself that she would never wake up Kirihara. But she can't do anything, if she left Kirihara there, he would catch a cold and Yukimura would smile at her the _don't-hurt-Akaya-or-else-die _smile he gave Sanada-san a while ago. That actually scared her.

"Hey, Kirihara. Wake up." She moved his body gently. "Get up or you'll catch a cold."

"Just… five more… minutes." He mumbled and snored.

"Wake up! Or else I'll leave you here." She warned. Kirihara rubbed his eyes and sat. He stared at her. "Sheesh! How do your parents wake you up any way? Don't they have a hard time when—"

She was cut when Kirihara held her hand and his soft lips brushed against her cheek. Ann's face felt hot. Had Kirihara just kissed her? Did he really do it? Well yeah, he did. "Didn't I tell you that if you don't shut up, I'll kiss you?"

Kirihara grabbed his jacket and got up. He dusted his shirt and walked back inside. He was about to leave the dumbfounded Ann when a slipper hit his head. A vein again popped and he turned to look at her.

"Hey!" Kirihara shouted at the nonchalant girl.

"I don't know why the hell you did that but that was plain gross." She told him dryly. Kirihara then grabbed the slipper. "And if you're going to throw that back at me, don't even bother. You're just going to miss with that girly throw of yours." She said and stood up.

"Now, move." She told him and gave him a glare.

"Don't—" Kirihara was about to say something when Ann cut in and spoke in English.

"_Shut up. You have no chances of giving me a sensible reply. I'm sure you don't understand what I'm saying right now because you are really stupid."_ She said and pushed her out of her way.

"In other words… You don't have any retorts against me so don't bother." She finally spoke in a language that he'd understand. "You have your jacket back, right?" She finished and went inside, leaving a speechless Kirihara. He must've nosebleed because of the English.

* * *

"Gah! I'm never gonna wake him up again!" She grumbled as she went inside her room. She jumped into her bed and stared at the ceiling. "That idiot!"

She turned to look at her study table and found something long and shiny hanging there. She blinked several times and decided to approach and look at it. She walked towards the table and saw a white ribbon. She examined it for a few minutes. It was long and silky, really beautiful. She took it and used it to tie her hair. She went to the mirror to see how it looked. It looked fine, no gorgeous. It totally complemented her hair. The length, color, everything just seemed right. She removed it and smiled warmly at it.

"Who could have left it here?" She asked particularly no one. Then she looked at her desk again and found a small note. It read:

_Ann,_

_Since I lost that clip of yours, I decided to exchange it with this ribbon. I'm looking for it, don't worry. I can feel that it's important to you so I'm really trying hard to search for it. I'm really sorry for losing it, I really am! Till I find your clip, please wear that. I'm sure it would look good on you. Hope you don't mind._

_P.S. The cake you baked was really good. _

_ -Marui- _

Short but sweet. Ann thought. Who ever knew that the self-proclaimed tensai would be such a sweet guy? Well, Ann did. She smiled again, at the letter and the ribbon. She then got something from her bag, a small box. She opened it and revealed some pictures of her friends, her family, some jewelry, and a locket. Then she put the letter and ribbon in it and closed it. She then went to bed to get some sleep. There was something written on the top of the box.

_**The most important things in my life.**_

* * *

**A/N:** So, how was it? Is it good enough and long enough? Please leave a review, it would be much appreciated. Let me know of what you think! Go KiriAn & MaruAn!!


	9. Midnight Chocolate

**Warnings: **Jealous Kirihara, annoyed Ann and evil Niou. XD

**A/N:** This chapter will be about what happened to Kirihara and the other guys after the rooftop scene last chapter. Nothing special about this chapter really. Except maybe Niou and his cameras and Ann sharing chocolates with Marui. Please do leave a review after you read. It'll be much loved. Spread **Kiri/An** & **Maru/An** love!!

* * *

**_ On the other room…_**

Kirihara went back to their room after his _conversation _with Ann. He opened the door and a pillow hit his head to welcome him. A vein popped on his head.

"It's about time you got here!" Marui said. "Where have you been?"

"E-eh? Marui-sempai." Kirihara voiced. Last time he remembered they were about to start a fight and now he's concerned about him? "Rooftop. I went there to have some time to think."

"You have a brain?" Marui taunted. "…Just kidding!"

"Marui-sempai!" Kirihara whined.

"Hey, thanks." He suddenly told the boy. "You're actually pretty smart."

"For what?" Then he smirked realizing that his sempai called him smart. "I know I am, is it bec—" He stopped when Marui cut in.

"But still not enough to outsmart a tensai like me." Marui proudly said.

"Heeey! You're only self-proclaimed." Kirihara said. Marui gave him a fake glare.

"So, Akaya! Up for a movie now?" Niou butted in. "I've got a good one just now!"

"You sure that's not about me?" He intrigued. Niou nodded innocently.

'_Puri.'_ The three, Niou, Marui and Jackal thought darkly.

"Then let me watch it!" Kirihara exclaimed and jumped on the bed.

"This is total suspense so get ready!" Niou said and inserted the CD. The movie played.

* * *

A guy lay down on the roof with his hands on his head and gazed at the stars nonchalantly. The moon partially lighting his face and the cold wind brushing against his fair skin. He looked like he contemplated on some things, and it looked like it confused him, basing on the troubled look he had on his face.

The cold wind brushed against his skin again, causing him to shiver. He tried to ignore it but it was too breezy. Then he felt something over him, something soft. He opened his eyes and saw a jacket on him. He then searched for the one who gave his jacket back and found a brunette standing there.

"You're cold right? Use it." A gentle voice said. The owner of the voice proceeded to sit down beside him. "And that's what I call sulking. Why are you sulking anyway?" The rather gentle voice turned a bit taunting.

"I'm not sulking, girl." He replied. "I'm thinking."

"Hn, really now? About what?" She asked.

* * *

"Niou-sempai, I think this movie can't give me any suspense cause I think I've watched it already."

"Oh really? Maybe you should continue watching, to be able to recall if you had watched it before." Niou replied and smirked.

"Oookay…"

* * *

"None of your business, Tachibana." He shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

**0o0o0o0o0**

"Tachibana? The name's even familiar!" Kirihara shouted.

"Really?" Marui asked nonchalantly, not even bothering to look at the screen. He blew his gum and continued to read the tennis magazine he was reading a while ago.

**0o0o0o0o0**

"Nothing, I just wanted to gaze at the stars tonight. They seem to be lovely this time of night." She replied. "And will you stop calling me Tachibana? It reminds me of my brother."

"Why, you don't want to be reminded of your brother?" He smirked.

"It's just that when I remember him, I kinda miss him." She answered. "And I don't want to feel that. It's nostalgic."

"Hn." The boy said and gazed at the stars. "I'm sure he misses you too."

"Probably, yeah." The girl muttered and stared at the vast sky.

Silence took over the scene. The girl still gazed at the stars and the guy was slowly falling asleep. Not long he did.

"You know, when I gaze at the stars, it makes me calm and feel lighthearted." The girl suddenly talked. She looked at Kirihara and was surprised to see that he had already fallen asleep. The girl let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, Kirihara. Wake up." She moved his body gently. "Get up or you'll catch a cold."

* * *

"E-eh? Kirihara?" Kirihara suddenly mumbled. The others sweatdropped.

"_Naïve little boy." _All of them thought.

"I'm gonna call Ann." Jackal said when Niou signaled him to do something. He stood up and left the room.

* * *

"Just… five more… minutes." He mumbled and snored.

"Wake up! Or else I'll leave you here." She warned. Kirihara rubbed his eyes and sat. He stared at her. "Sheesh! How do your parents wake you up any way? Don't they have a hard time when—"

* * *

"Oh! Oh! Akaya! Here's the good part!" Niou exclaimed. "You too Marui! You haven't watched this part yet!" He said and bounced on the bed.

"That's because you stopped it when I was about to watch it." He said and turned to look at the screen.

* * *

The girl from the movie was cut when the guy held her hand and his soft lips brushed against her cheek. "Didn't I tell you that if you don't shut up, I'll kiss you?" The suddenly said and smirked.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Kirihara and Marui froze. Kirihara had now realized who were the people in the movie. Him again! Yeah, he's a real slowpoke, and really forgetful! He stayed at where he was and stared at the screen. While Marui, dropped the magazine he was holding and the gum he had just blown had gone all over his face. Well, he knew that the movie was about Kirihara and Ann alone in the rooftop, but he never knew that they had kissed! They stopped for a moment and both hastily turned at the smiling trickster.

"Niou-sempai! How do you catch all of these things? How do you know when things will happen? Why do you do this to me? I'm your beloved kouhai right? What are youu?? Nande? Nande? Nan—" Kirihara's imitation of Itsuki from Rokkaku stopped when Niou talked.

"It's all in the senses, Akaya. It's all in the trickster senses." Niou said. "Cameras are everywhere."

"What are you?" Marui blurted out. Niou smirked.

"Notice my presence, I am the great trickster." He proclaimed. Just then, Jackal and Ann entered the room. Jackal proceeded to sit on the bed as Ann yawned. She looked at Kirihara, who was looking back at her. She rolled her eyes and saw Marui. She smiled.

"Marui-sempai!" She exclaimed, all her drowsiness faded away as she saw Marui. He blinked. "Thank you!"

"U-uh…" Marui stuttered. It would cause a riot when Niou finds out that he gave her a ribbon.

"Thank you?" The others asked.

"For the—" Before she could continue what she was about to say, Marui ran towards her and put a stick of gum on her mouth.

"You know what, we're watching a horror movie right now, why don't you join us?" He suddenly suggested.

"Oh really?" She asked and looked at the screen. "Why, it is kinda scary!" She said as she saw some kind of monster in it. She chewed on the gum and tried to blow a bubble.

"Woman, are you blind?" Kirihara yelled at her. "Can't you see that that movie is a blackmail by Niou-sempai?!"

"Eh? What the hell are you talking about?" Ann said, blowing another bubble from the gum. "All I see are blood and a monster with one eye. Maybe you're the one who's blind, idiot."

Kirihara turned to look at the television again. What she said was true, he didn't see his face anymore, just a monster with one eye and its victim. No sign of him and Ann at all. He gave a surprised look and turned to Niou. "What are you?"

"A trickster." Niou simply said and winked.

"Come on, let's watch it Marui-sempai. It looks interesting!" She said and dragged Marui to sit on the floor with her.

They continued to watch the movie though Kirihara never paid attention to it. He was too focused on Ann and Marui who were beside each other. Ann didn't flinch at the movie while the others, Marui and Niou, were already hiding behind the pillows. Kirihara fumed and tried to ignore her so he looked at the screen. Just in time, the scene focused the face of the monster, which made Kirihara shout. The others stared at him.

"Not only do you throw like a girl, you even scream like one." Ann shot at him.

"Hey, you're a girl." He shot back. "Oh, I forgot, you're a guy."

"You're the one to talk. Girly." Ann retorted. Just behind, Niou gave her another thumbs up. Then Ann suddenly noticed Marui shaking and hiding on the pillow. "Marui-sempai, are you scared?"

"Not…really." He replied, still hiding on the pillow. "It's just that Horror movies are not my cup of tea."

Ann smiled at him and patted his head. Marui looked at her. "Don't worry Marui-sempai! I'm here."

"Thanks." He smiled back.

"There's something wrong with this part…" Jackal whispered to Niou. "Isn't Ann supposed to be the one scared and Marui would be the on to comfort her?"

"Yeah." Niou agreed. "But, what the heck, it looks like a good scenery anyway." He said and Jackal nodded. "Not them, him." Niou confirmed and pointed at the fuming Kirihara.

"But I never knew that the self proclaimed tensai would be afraid of horror movies…" Ann joked and Marui pouted at her.

"Nice one, Ann!" Niou cheered.

"Just kidding!" Ann winked and smiled sheepishly at him. Marui laughed a bit.

They didn't notice that the curly haired boy had already took a seat beside Ann. Ann stopped talking to her sempai and turned to face him. She raised her brows as she looked directly at Kirihara. Kirihara copied what she did and that made her annoyed.

"And what are you doing here? Why don't you just sit in bed, it's a lot softer there."

"What about you? Why are you seated here in the floor? As you have said, the bed is a lot softer, right?"

"Ugh, will you just go somewhere away from me?" She told him.

"But I'm scared too." He said. "If you pat my head, then maybe I'll feel a lot better."

The three other boys sweatdropped. "Oh, he's an absolute idiot."

Ann slapped her forehead and gave another exasperated sigh. "Okay…Fine. As long as you stay away." She grumbled and patted his head. Kirihara smiled. Then Ann whacked his head. "Ooops! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" She asked innocently. Kirihara twitched.

"You are soo going down, woman." Kirihara stated and got a pillow.

"Again with the pillow? Don't get me started with that, you might cry yourself to sleep when I hit you." Ann said. Kirihara continued to throw it at her but unfortunately for him, he missed.

"Hah! See? Don't even try agai—" Ann stopped when Niou suddenly shouted.

"Look! It's the monster!!" He pretended to be scared and pointed at the TV. His shout made Kirihara and Ann look at the TV and scream as well. When they saw the screen, they suddenly hugged each other. Jackal snorted, Marui gave another surprised look and Niou secretly held a camera.

"AAAHHHHH!!"

"Puri."

Kirihara and Ann stayed like that for a while and they stared at each other. They were too close to each other, only some millimeters apart, to be exact. Kirihara looked at Ann's face and Ann did the same. Their hug was so tight that Ann had a hard time to breathe. Kirihara just gazed at her. Then they both realized the situation they're in and quickly pulled away from each other.

"You just hugged me!" Kirihara shouted, his face flushed as he pointed at Ann. Ann put her hands on her hips.

"Well, you did too." She said and looked away from him. "Coward."

"Hey, you screamed too! And it even pierced my ears!" Kirihara shot at her.

"So? Like yours is not ear-piercing." She said flatly.

"Bah! Will you just—" He stopped when Marui stood up and went to bed.

"I guess that's enough movies for the night." Marui suddenly said. "Ann, get some sleep. We have classes tomorrow, you know." He continued. Jackal and Niou stared at him.

**_'Jealousy?'_**

"Hai, Marui-sempai." She said and stood up. Before she left the room, she gave Kirihara one last glare. Marui rolled his eyes.

_**'****Maybe…'**_

* * *

**_Midnight…_**

Marui tossed and turned on the bed. He couldn't get any sleep. The others were already fast asleep and he's the only one awake. He turned to look at the window. "I'm not sleepy at all." He sighed as he stood up and went out of the room. He didn't notice a pair of **emerald green** eyes watching him go out of the room.

Marui entered the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator.

"Gah! There're are no sweets in here at all." He whined and searched the insides of the fridge. "I'm hungry!" He complained again. Then someone tapped his back and he turned to look at the person. It was Ann who smiled at him.

"Yo!" She greeted him. Marui raised a brow. "I knew you'd be here."

"Ann… Why are you here? It's already midnight." Marui asked her worriedly. "Get some sleep."

She smiled again. "You're looking for sweets, right?" She asked and got something from her pocket. "Here." She said and handed it to him.

"This…" He muttered and looked at the bar of chocolate that was now in his hands.

"I bought that yesterday but I wasn't able to eat it." She informed him. "You can eat that."

"Uh…Thanks." He said and opened it.

"I should be the one thanking you, you know." She said. "You didn't even give me a chance to thank you a while ago." She pouted. "Why did you do that?"

"Do you want Niou to tease us?" He asked her and took a bite from the chocolate.

"No, but I wouldn't mind him teasing us." She said and winked at him. Marui sweatdropped. "Do you?"

"Well… I guess not really." Marui said, a bit hesitating. "Here." He told Ann and gave her a piece of chocolate.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry at all." She refused. She then sat down at on of the dining chairs and Marui followed and sat down beside her.

"I just want to thank you for the ribbon you gave me." Ann said. "It's very lovely."

"Umm… Sure."

"Oh, and I'm glad you liked the cake I baked." She smiled warmly at him. His face reddened. "They said that this week will be full of activities, what's tomorrow gonna be about?"

"…I think it will be about arts and stuff like painting, sculpture and etc." He informed.

"Really? Then I should—" She was cut when Marui suddenly went closer to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. She was surprised on what Marui did and she stared at him with her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed.

"Ann, go and take a sleep." He said and stood up. "Don't stay up late, okay?" He said and walked out of the kitchen. "Oh and thanks for the chocolate." She nodded absent-mindedly and watched him go.

'_Did he just kiss me?'_

* * *

The next day…

Niou kicked the drooling Kirihara to wake him up. They're gonna be late for class and Kirihara haven't even got up from bed. Niou kicked him again, but this time, harder.

"Oi Wake up!" He shouted. Then he looked at the other snoring boy, Marui. "You too? Geez, wake up already!" He said and pushed them out of the bed.

Both rubbed their sleepy eyes. Kirihara was still half-asleep and Marui yawned. Niou glared at them both. "What **time** did you two sleep anyway?" He intrigued.

Marui stood up and headed to the bathroom while Kirihara was still sleeping. Then Niou dragged him up. "Sanada's coming here, quick Akaya! Head to the bathroom!"

Upon hearing what Niou said, Kirihara's eyes flicked open and he ran straight to the bathroom. "Going! Going!" He said and grabbed the towel and ran for his life for nothing.

"Puri."

After taking a bath and dressing up, all of them went to the kitchen to eat. They all took a seat as Yukimura ordered them. Then Marui and Kirihara noticed that Ann was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Ann?" They both said in unison. Niou smirked.

"She went out really early." Yukimura informed. "Maybe she has some business to do. She didn't tell me."

"Oh."

'_Did I surprise her last night? Where could she have gone to?' _Was Marui's thought.

'_Che, and I actually thought that we'd all walk together to school today.' _Was Kirihara's thought.

'_Puri.' _Was Niou's thought.

"Can we go now?" All of the three said. Yukimura smiled his _finish-your-food-or-die _smile at them. They sighed and continued eating.

"Where is she?" Kirihara and Marui thought.

TBC…

_**This will be a small preview of the next chapter:**_

"Yanagi-sem—"

"The probability of you looking for Ann Tachibana: 98.62 percent." Yanagi said.

"Yeah and have you—"

"The probability of you asking me where she is: 100 percent."

"Have you—"

"The probability of you missing her already is: 126.25 percent. That's beyond possibilities, you really do miss her."

"What? I do not miss her!"


	10. The Mumbler and The Hothead

_**The Mumbler and The Hothead**_

Ann stood in front of them train station, waiting for someone. She was eagerly waiting for her brother to arrive and so, she waked up early in the morning just to see him. He had told her that he will be visiting her today and even said that he might bring Shinji and Kamio along too and Ann off course was happy. She missed her friends and brother so much because she hadn't ever been away from them. She promised them that she would tour them to Rikkai for the day.

"An-chan!!" A redhead waved at her. She smiled and waved back.

"Kamio-kun!" She called out and then spotted Shinji beside him. "Shinji-kun!"

Both boys neared her. "Ann, how are you doing? Are you okay? What about that Kirihara guy?" Kamio was the first one to speak, asking her a lot of questions.

"I'm fine, everything's great." She answered. "I've got to meet a lot of friends and they're all nice. And that Kirihara is not doing anything bad to me so far." She continued and remembered that Kirihara had just kissed him last night. She sighed.

"That's good to hear Ann-chan…" Kamio smiled at her.

"By the way, where's onii-san?" Ann asked.

"Tachibana-san…" Shinji suddenly talked. "He had a lot of things to do because of the tennis team and wasn't able to go here. But I wonder why he didn't cancel all of the work he could come with us to meet you because I'm sure he misses you too but because of all the work he has to do, he did not have time to visit you anymore, that's why only me and Kamio went here. Though I'm sure that it's really important cause he didn't come with us to meet you here. And that uniform looks good on you by the way, Ann." He finished. The other two sweatdropped.

"In short, Tachibana-san can't come cause they gave him a lot of work to do." Kamio cleared the super long explanation Shinji gave her. "Oh, Shinji's right. That uniform looks good on you. You look totally different."

"Thanks." Ann muttered as a frown showed on her face. It saddened her when she found out that her brother wasn't coming..

"Ann-chan?" Kamio asked worriedly.

"Oh!" Ann stuttered then she smiled and scratched her head. "Its too bad onii-san couldn't come…"

"Yeah…"

"How's about I tour you two to Rikkai today! It would be a lot of fun when you meet Niou-sempai and Marui-sempai." She said happily and got the hands of Shinji and Kamio and dragged them to school.

'_Onii-san...'_

* * *

Kirihara hurried to school to look for Ann and Niou followed him together with Marui and Jackal. Niou smirked as he saw Kirihara speeding up to school and having an irritated look on his face added up to Niou's amusement. The other two, Jackal and Marui, were nonchalantly following the trickster. They arrived to school and Kirihara hurried to go to his classroom.

"Oi Akaya! Where're ya going?!" Niou shouted as Kirihara went away from them.

"Classroom Niou-sempai!" He answered.

"Niou, aren't you gonna follow him?" Jackal asked.

"Nah, he's not gonna find Ann there anyway." He said.

"Do you know where she is?" Marui suddenly asked. Niou gave him a smirk.

"Puri. Worried about her too, aren't we, Ma-ru-i-kun!" Niou teased. Marui rolled his eyes.

* * *

Kirihara entered the classroom and approached one of his classmates and Ann's friends, Misaki. "Oi Misaki, have you seen Tachibana?"

Misaki blinked innocently. "Ann-chan? No I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"

"Thanks. Bye." Kirihara said and went out of the room, completely ignoring her question. He went to the school cafeteria and spotted Yanagi seated on one of the chairs eating.

"Yanagi-sem--"

"The probability of you looking for Ann Tachibana: 98.62 percent." Yanagi said.

"Yeah and have you--"

"The probability of you asking me where she is: 100 percent."

"Have you--"

"The probability of you missing her already is: 126.25 percent. That's beyond possibilities, you really do miss her."

"What? I do not miss her!" Kirihara denied.

"I'm sorry Akaya-kun but I cannot help you with your love sickness right now. As you can see I am eating my breakfast."

"But didn't you eat at home?" Kirihara asked. Yanagi took a bite from his food.

"Akaya… You're desperate aren't you?" Yanagi said. "I'm sorry but I can't really help you. I have no information on where she is located at the moment."

"What? I'm not desperate to find her and talk to her!" Kirihara shouted. Yanagi stared at him.

"That's desperation." Yanagi confirmed. "Try going to the garden. Most of the girls go there to hang out in the morning."

"Really? Thank you Yanagi-sempai!" He said and head for the garden. "And I am not desperate!" He shouted as he ran away.

At the garden…

Kirihara entered the garden and immediately looked for Ann. He passed by Yagyuu, who was reading a book on the bench. He immediately stopped to ask him.

"Yagyuu-sempai, have you seen Tachibana Ann around here?"

Yagyuu stopped from reading his book as soon as he noticed Kirihara. "Your girlfriend?"

Kirihara scowled. "No way! I'm just looking for her that's all! Like I would want to hug her because I miss her too much…"

"I didn't say anything like that, Akaya-kun." Yagyuu simply said, though behind those glasses were eyes gleaming with amusement. Kirihara realized what he just said and covered his mouth.

"I didn't say anything, really!" Kirihara defended. Yagyuu smiled a bit and pointed at someone before he proceeded to read again.

"I believe that's what you're looking for." He said and continued to read. Kirihara looked at where Yagyuu was pointing to and he saw Ann.

"Kamio-kun, Shinji-kun, where do you want to go first?" He heard Ann say. He approached her.

"Oi Tachibana!" He yelled. Ann turned to look at him. Also Shinji and Kamio. Then he stopped when he saw Ann up close. "What the hell are you wearing?!"

Ann glared at him. "Why do you care?"

Kirihara scowled again. "Why are you wearing ribbons? It doesn't even look good on you!" He yelled at her.

"Oi, don't talk to Ann-chan like that." Kamio suddenly confronted Kirihara. "It's looks fine on her."

"And why should I care about your opinion?" Said Kirihara, getting serious. "And why are you even here? Fudoumine idiot."

"Hey, you're talking about the three of us when you say Fudoumine, imbecile." Ann shot at him.

"Well, you're not in Fudoumine anymore, Tachibana. Haven't you remember that you're studying in Rikkai right now?"

"Whatever." Ann ignored him. "Come on guys, I'll tour you to someplace away from him." She said and turned. As soon as she did, Marui stood in front of her, having a surprised look on his face.

"Marui-sempai!" She exclaimed.

"Oh Marui you found them!" Niou shouted from afar, with Jackal by his side.

"Ann… You wore it." Marui muttered. Ann smiled and touched the ribbon.

"It looks good on me, don't you think so Marui-sempai?" She asked him. Marui blushed. "Thank you for giving this to me."

"A-ah." Was all Marui could say. Niou sighed as he saw the scene.

"There's that aura again." Jackal whispered to Niou.

"Oh!" Ann suddenly remembered something. "This is Kamio-kun and Shinji-kun from my school."

Marui eyed them and blew a bubble from his gum. "Nice to meet you." He said and shook hands with them.

"Oh, so this is the one you're talking about on the phone, Ann." Shinji suddenly spoke. "He's the one who gave you that ribbon right? He's also the one whom you baked cake for. I remembered that he was the one who liked sweets and he was also the one who's very arrogant. But all of the Rikkai Dai regulars seem to be arrogant so that's usual for him to be one. Not that they don't have anything to boast about but they have something to brag about after all because they are really strong and respected by others. I think that they have a lot of tennis courts because they are well trained and they have a scary vice captain with the hat. That guy look like he is thirty, don't you think so too? Maybe they have disguised him as a fifteen-year-old so that they would win. I think that he looks even older than Hyotei Gakuen's coach does…"

Niou and Jackal snorted and Marui and Kirihara twitched while Ann and Kamio sweatdropped.

"…Speaking of that school, did you see that guy from Hyotei with red hair? Is that his hair's true color? Why did he dye it red? He looks like a clown or something like that mascot from the fast-food chain where I ate yesterday because of his red hair…"

Marui twitched even more. As you may all know, he also has red hair. Ann smiled sheepishly at him. "Shinji-kun, I think that's enough."

"Puri!! Yo, Ann! These your friends?" Niou smiled at her and eyed the two Fudoumine boys. Ann nodded and Niou smiled again. He then turned to Marui and patted his shoulders.

"Noticing, you really do look like Ronald Mc Donald…Bun-chan." Niou said sarcastically. Marui glared at him and tried to punch him. Niou dodged it. "That ain't nice Bun-chan. You might fall again and land on your dear Ann-chan…"

Kamio gave a surprised look and stared at Ann. "…Ann-chan? What's he talking about?"

"E-eh…Uh." Ann smiled. Niou smirked.

"And don't forget the baking part! You had Ann's face covered with frosting and you had a fun time playing together!" Niou stated and eyed Kamio, not to mention Kirihara.

"Ann?" Kamio uttered again.

"Well, it was sticky but it was really fun playing with Marui-sempai." She smiled sheepishly at him.

Marui glared at Niou. _'You're doing this on purpose.' _Marui thought darkly of Niou.

'_I am, what are you going to do about it?' _He smirked at the glaring Marui. He even glared more. Oh, Niou was enjoying all of this, "Puri."

"Oh and Aka-chan!" He called 'sweetly' at Kirihara. "I forgot to ask you about what happened when you and Ann got stuck on the classroom the other day. With you two ALONE."

"Alone?!" Kamio shouted then glared at Kirihara.

"Niou-sempai!" Kirihara shouted.

"And also the time you KISSED her. How did you do it?" Niou's smirk grew wider as he saw Kamio about to burst with anger.

"Kissed?! Ann-chan! What's happening?!" Kamio looked at Ann worriedly. "What are they doing to you?"

"Calm down Kamio-kun!" Ann told him. "I'm sure Niou-san is just joking, right Niou-sempai?"

Niou smiled innocently. "Mmm! Just joking!"

Kamio let out a sigh of relief. "Whew, I thought that that guy is doing bad things to you Ann-chan."

The two boys who were tricked, Marui and Kirihara gave Ann a small glare and Niou a super death glare. _'No fair! No hard treatments for Ann?!' _They thought at the same time.

All the commotion was disturbed when they heard an announcement. They listened. '_As for today's events, we will hold a drawing contest at the auditorium. You must have at least three members to help you with the big canvas you are going to draw on. For those who are interested to join, please proceed to the area to sign up immediately. There would be a special price for the lucky winners of the contest.' _It announced. _'The lucky winners will receive an eat-all-you-can buffet at the cafeteria! The contest will start after lunch.'_

They all looked at each other and kept silent for a few minutes until Niou spoke. "Oh we've got to win that contest." He said all too seriously. The others sweatdropped as they saw Niou wearing a soldier's helmet.

"What's with the helmet?" A dumbfounded Kirihara asked.

"We are going to battle. Prepare yourself, Akaya." Niou declared. "All of you! Stand straight!"

Oddly enough, they all did. "Okay men!" Niou started, then he noticed Ann cross her arms. He mentally slapped himself. "…And Ann, we are going to win the contest and no ones gonna stop us!"

"Yes sir!" They all answered giving him salutations, even Kamio and Shinji.

"Pencils!"

"Check!" Kirihara answered.

"Erasers!"

"Check!" Jackal said.

"Coloring materials?"

"Uhh…Check!" Ann happily answered.

"Since all is ready, let's go!" Niou stated and marched towards the auditorium. Then Marui suddenly interrupted them from marching.

"Does anyone of you even know how to draw?"

That was Marui's heartbreaking question. They all stared at each other but when no one reacted, Niou frowned. "No one?"

Nobody reacted, they just froze.

"Not even you Ann?"

Ann shook her head no.

"Are you kidding me?! Ann-chan can't even draw a flower!" KAmio declared. Ann pouted.

"Well, sorry if I'm not perfect!"

"We're doomed! My eat-all-you-can dreams! Ruined!" Niou started wailing. Jackal patted his head.

"There, there, you'll get over it someday…" Jackal comforted.

"I know someone who knows…"

Ending tenth chapter here!

* * *

**A/N:**Is this chapter good? Tell me by reviewing! Oh and Sorry for the late update, I had writer's block (I'm a writer?!) so that's why it's kinda crappy XD and also because I wrote a oneshot: **Defying The Facts **(Marui/An) for Shurikan0. If you want some MaruAn love, please do read it. (Advertising?) I would appreciate it if you did. Haha, so yeah…Please wait for the next chapter!


	11. Legendary Sanada Lisa

_**Legendary Sanada Lisa**_

"I know someone who can draw," Ann suddenly said. Niou gave an excited look.

"Really? Who?" He asked eagerly. Ann pointed the person beside her, Shinji.

"Him? Really?" Kirihara asked.

"Yes! Shinji-kun used to help me when we have drawing classes at Fudoumine!" She told them.

"Oh really?" Niou asked suspiciously. "Let's see what he can do…Here." He said and handed him a piece of paper and a pencil. Shinji stared at the paper for a moment.

"What am I suppose to do with these? Do I really need to draw for you? I won't get anything if I draw for you anyway. And this paper is too rough, where did you get this? It has low quality and the pencil is hardly sharpened. I wonder how they turn trees into papers and how come it's so—"

"Just please draw me a person." Niou interrupted Shinji's mumbling.

"The paper isn't good enough and I don't like to—"

"God, will you just do it?!" Kirihara said, totally annoyed from his mumbling.

"Fine." Then he started drawing. He finished and handed it to Niou. He got it and his eyes widened.

"This is…" He muttered then tears came rolling down from his eyes. "Utterly…" He dropped the paper letting the others see it.

"I can totally draw better than that!" Kirihara stated. Kamio slapped his forehead.

"This is why they both fail in arts…" Kamio mumbled. Jackal and Marui stared at the drawing, completely dumbfounded.

"That's a person?" They both asked no one as they saw the scribbles on the paper. "More like an amoeba."

"It's art! Can't you see it?" Ann defended. The others stared at them. "You guys have no sense of creativity."

The others raised their brows on her. "Look who's talking." They told her dryly.

"Okay! Okay! Then don't listen to me from now on." She grumbled. "I know I suck at arts."

"We're doomed." Niou said. "Hey Marui, didn't you use to draw?"

"Well, it's been years since I last drew something seriously. I don't think I know how to draw anymore." Marui mused and blew a bubble from his gum.

"What are you all doing here?" Yukimura suddenly appeared and flashed them a smile.

"Mura-buchou!" The regulars all said happily. Then he spotted Kamio and Shinji.

"I haven't seen you two before, are you Ann's friends?" He asked and smiled at them. They nodded. "So that's why Ann woke up early in the morning."

"Yukimura-buchou, do you know how to draw?" Niou asked.

"Off course Yukimura knows how to draw…" Sanada suddenly popped out of nowhere. The others backed away from him. He looked at them oddly and noticed Shinji whispering something about thirty-year-olds to Kamio. He raised brows at them though he still had that stoic expression on his face.

"Can you draw me a person here?" Niou said and picked up the paper Shinji used. Yukimura gladly took the paper and started drawing. When he finished, he handed the paper to Niou.

"Here." He happily said.

"We might actually have chance when we have Yukimura-buchou." Niou whispered to Jackal before he looked at the paper. When his eyes met the piece, he froze.

"Though I haven't drawn for years, I know that I can draw so much better than that…" Marui muttered as he gawked at it.

"I'm sure Ann-chan can draw better than that." Kamio whispered to himself. They all stared at the piece of paper, which had Yukimura's drawing on it. He drew some kind of human with a black hat with a distorted figure though it just seemed like a rock with a hat and unevenly drawn eyes.

"I drew Genichirou pretty well, right?" He smiled at them. They all kept silent. "I got his features perfectly."

"It's beautiful, Yukimura…" Sanada told him a bit hesitantly. He doesn't know if he'll be happy because Yukimura chose to draw him or pissed because Yukimura thought that he looked like a rock. He only sighed.

"Thank you, Genichirou." Yukimura said and gave him another gentle smile. Sanada blushed. "I poured all my love into drawing this."

"_That's what he calls LOVE?!" _ They all sweatdropped.

"Okay, we're dead." Niou gave up. "No one even knows how to draw."

"How about Yagyuu-sempai?" Kirihara suddenly suggested. "He's there, reading a book." He said and pointed at the bench. Niou grinned.

"Hiiirroooshiii!!" He shouted as he ran to him and hugged him.

"Masa…haru…Let go of me…" Yagyuu said between his gasps for air. Niou tightened his hug.

"Hiroshiiiii!! You know how to draw right? I saw you do it!" Niou squealed. "Please draw for us! Eat-all-you-can! Draw for me!!"

"Please…let go…" Yagyuu muttered. Niou loosened his hug on him. "…Thank you." He said and fixed his glasses.

"So, will you draw for me?" Niou exclaimed. Yagyuu frowned. "Please?" He pleaded and hugged him again.

"Fi-fine…" Yagyuu said, afraid of being hugged to death.

"They're so childish…" Kamio mumbled. Shinji looked at him.

"Oi! Hiroshi said he'd draw for us!" Niou waved at them and dragged Yagyuu.

"That's great Niou-sempai!" Ann smiled.

"Now, we have to settle the ones who'll join." Niou said. "Jackal, Yagyuu, me…how 'bout you Marui?"

"Nah, that's too boring…" He said and blew another bubble. Niou pouted.

"Fine, then I guess you can't show Ann your tensai skills…" Niou smirked. Marui rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, I'm not Kirihara…" He shrugged.

"Kill-joy… How bout you, Akaya?" He turned to Kirihara.

"E-eh, I don't know…" Kirihara said. Niou rolled his eyes. "I'm not into drawing."

"Ann you're gonna join us, too bad for Akaya. I'll be working with you and have fun with you." Niou said. Ann blinked then muttered a happy 'yes!' Kirihara gave a surprise look, so did Kamio. Marui looked at them blankly.

"Can I join?" Kirihara and Kamio raised they're hands. Niou smirked. "Puri."

"I don't know…." Niou said 'innocently' "…Do you guys know how to draw?"

"I don't know about that guy," Ann eyed Kirihara. "But Kamio-kun knows."

"I can to!" Kirihara defended. "Please! I wanna draw."

"He just wants to join because of Ann…" Jackal snorted.

"Because you're my favorite kouhai, I'll let you join…" Niou smiled.

"Isn't Akaya our only kouhai?" Marui murmured.

"Don't you want to ask me if I want to join?" Yukimura suddenly asked Niou.

"Uh…" Niou remembered Yukimura's drawing. "That's okay buchou, I think we have a lot of members already."

"Okay then…" He smiled his '_die-bitch'_ smile at him. Niou gulped. Sanada sweatdropped.

"So it's settled then! Jackal, Hiroshi, Me, Ann, Akaya and Kamio will join!"

* * *

They arrived at the auditorium and signed up for the contest. Niou was flailing around as he ensured the others their victory and eat-all-you-can prize. The others looked at him oddly. "Wai! We are so gonna win this!"

"Hey Ann-chan," Kamio called her. "Are you sure their buchou is okay? He looks scary especially when he smiles. Maybe he's mad because can't join." He whispered to her, scared to look at the so-called smiling man who was with an even scarier hat-wearing man.

"Don't worry, he's just like that." Ann smiled. Kirihara fumed, seeing the two talking to each other. He glared at them. "Oh and where's Marui-sempai? I haven't seen him since we got here. "

'_He looks for sempai but doesn't care about me…' _Kirihara pouted. "Well whatever. It's not like I'm jealous because she's ignoring me…"

"Akaya…What are you mumbling about?" Jackal asked and threw Kirihara an odd look. Kirihara didn't notice his question because he was too busy thinking about how Ann ignored her.

"Probably about his girlfriend, Jackal." Yagyuu, who was just beside Jackal, suddenly spoke.

"_For those who will join, please be reminded that we will start after we introduce our judges…Please go with your groups and get ready." _The announcer said. _"Our judge no. 1 will be the principal herself: Ma'am Tsukuda Moriko. Judge no. 2 will be our liberal arts teacher: Mr. Akiyama Souta and the last one will be… "_

They all gawked at the third judge…Utterly familiar.

"…_Yanagi Renji from year 3 class F"_

They all kept silent and looked at the third judge, who happens to be their teammate and data specialist. They never expected that he would be one of the judges…Maybe that's why he wasn't there when they were talking about the groupings. Niou smirked and approached the three judges who were seated together. "We are sooo gonna win this…" He said and loomed over to Yanagi.

"Renji-chan!" Niou sweet talked the data master. Yanagi looked at him. "Did you know that I admire your super skill in data gatheri—"

"I'm sorry Niou but you cannot bribe me into letting you win the contest. The principal asked me to be one of the judges because she thinks that I'm one of the RARE disciplined students of the third years. So I will judge this contest with equality." He explained, aware of what Niou was trying to do. Bribery.

"Tch…" Niou gave a disappointed sigh. "Teacher's pet…" He grumbled and went back to his group mates.

"That's okay sempai, I'm sure we'll win this with our talent and skills in drawing." Ann comforted the disappointed trickster. Kirihara scowled.

"Heh. You're the one to talk." He smirked. Ann glared at him.

"Oh will you please shut up? You are so damn annoying!"

"Could you draw me a flower, little girl?" Kirihara sneered. Niou suddenly snorted. A vein popped on her head.

"Why you…" Ann glared at him even more. "…You're soo dead."

Niou sighed again. "Ah…They never fail to amuse me."

"Or would you like me to teach you how to draw one?" Kirihara teased.

"Woah…He just did a retort." Niou and Jackal said in _'astonishment'_.

"Aww…That's very nice of you." Ann rolled her eyes. "Then maybe I should call a third grader to tell you that the English of cat is not banana, huh?"

"…Backfired!" Niou and Jackal cheered.

"What?!" Kirihara shoot daggers at her.

"_Oh I'm sorry, you didn't understand that?"_ Ann suddenly spoke in English. She smirked as she sawKirihara's dumb expression.

"That'll be 9-0…" Jackal suddenly got a notebook and put a small score point under Ann's name. "When will Akaya ever score a point?"

"Damn you, Tachibana."

"_Please prepare all of your things, we are about to start the competition." _The announcer said.

"Okay guys, this is a once in a lifetime chance to have an eat-all-you-can buffet at the cafeteria…So let's get our third consecutive win and shown them what we've got!"

"This is drawing, not tennis, Masaharu." Yagyuu reminded.

"Right!" Niou said. "Let's all work hard!"

"Hai!" They all said.

"_Okay…The rules are: You have to copy this painting made by one of the most famous artisans in the world and the best copy will be proclaimed the winner. Since you have as much as seven members to help you, the time limit will only be two hours. You'll have to paint it together with your group." _Thecommentator stated. _"You may now begin."_

"Did we even bring paintbrushes and paint?" Yagyuu asked. No one answered. Niou slapped his forehead.

"Jackal, please get the paint I have on my classroom, and the brushes too…please." Niou ordered and Jackal left.

"You joined the competition with no materials?" Shinji was about to begin his rambling again. They sighed. "Once I also challenged Echizen for a match, he agreed but when we met at the street tennis courts, I realized that I hadn't brought my racket along. Why do people forget things? Maybe the gods did it on purpose to irritate humans. But if they wanted to irritate us, why did they create us? Maybe it's because they are bored. Speaking of boredom, I watched this movie which was really boring, the protagonist's brother appeared and they had a match, I don't know what really happened—"

"Hey, are you a god? Cause you're really irritating me…" Kirihara cut in.

And Shinji went on…

* * *

Jackal entered Niou's classroom and found Marui alone. He carried an easel and a small canvas. He gave a surprised look to him. Marui spotted Jackal and gave him a surprised look as well.

"Marui? What're are you doing here?" He asked as Marui put down the easel. Marui looked at the canvas.

"Nothing much…I just wanna know if I still know how to paint." He said and picked up a brush and a palette from the near table. "I used to paint before I started playing tennis."

"Oh…I never knew that." Jackal said. "Hey, do you know where the painting materials are?" He asked. Marui pointed at the cabinet at the back of the room.

"Thanks." Jackal told him and proceeded to open the cabinet.

"Sure." Said Marui, nonchalantly. Then he got a tube of paint and spread it on the palette.

"I'm going." Jackal informed him as he finished getting all the things that he needed. But before he could step out of the room, Marui called his attention.

"Hey, Jackal!" He called out. Jackal turned to look at him. "What do you think should I paint?"

"Hmm." He thought for a moment. "I don't know, probably the first thing that comes into your mind?"

"Oh." Marui grunted. Jackal smiled at him.

"Probably it's cakes and sweets, huh…" Jackal grinned.

"Yeah…" Marui answered. Then Jackal left him. "Thanks."

Marui stared at the canvas and stayed silent for a moment. Then his face had a gentle look on it. He got his paintbrush and started painting. He smiled softly like he never did before. Not a mocking, arrogant or fake smile. A genuine smile.

'_**The first thing that comes into my mind, huh?'**_

* * *

Jackal went back carrying the materials. He saw Ann and Kirihara fighting again, together with Kamio and Shinji. Niou was about to burst and Yagyuu comforted him.

"I told you, it's called Mona Lisa you feeble-witted brat! Mona Lisa! Not no brows!" Ann fumed.

"What's the difference? The girl has got no eyebrows are you blind? Heck, I don't even know if it's a girl or a horse!" Kirihara shouted.

"It's a girl, you idiot!" She shouted back. "Do you have a brain?!"

"Whatever." Kirihara rolled his eyes. "You're protecting that painting because it looks like you. With the big forehead and all…"

"Don't ever say Ann-chan has a big forehead!" Kamio protected Ann. Ann smiled at him. "Even though her forehead is big, it's not as big as that!" He fumed as he pointed at the Mona Lisa painting they were about to copy. Ann's smile turned into a big frown.

"It's still big!" Kirihara shouted. Ann twitched and she whacked both of the boys' heads.

"Oww!" The two shouted. The other students stared at the group who was causing all the commotion: Them.

"My head hurts…" Niou grumbled as he leaned on Yagyuu's shoulder. "I can't take it anymore."

"This is what you get for choosing them…" Yagyuu said. Niou sighed and Jackal sweatdropped.

"Hey, I've got the materials." Jackal said.

"Well it's about time you got here!" Niou 'glared' at him. Jackal gave him an apologizing look.

"We've wasted ten minutes!" Niou said. "Okay! For the sake of the eat-all-you-can prize, let's start!" He stated and got a paintbrush.

"Finally!" Kirihara grinned and got a paintbrush. "Now I can doodle on the paper!"

"You're not supposed to doodle in it, stupid." Kamio told him. Kirihara ignored him.

"Stop fighting and start working!" Niou ordered.

"Hai!"

"I wonder why they didn't pick me to draw. They chose Kamio-kun instead of me…How lame." Shinji randomly mumbled.

"Hey! That isn't supposed to be red!" Ann yelled at Kirihara, who was putting red paint on _Mona Lisa's _face, like some sort of blush was what Kirihara was painting.

"You're doing great!" Niou cheered. The others looked at him. All of them were working but Niou was just sitting there and cheering them on.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to help too?" Jackal asked. Niou closed his eyes and grinned.

"You see, I'm no good in arts…That's why I had Hiroshi join us." Niou explained. Jackal sweatdropped.

"Fine whatever." Jackal said and continued copying the picture of Mona Lisa.

"You guys are doing great!" Niou cheered again. "Now you guys stay here while I'll sabotage…err I mean look at the others' works, okay? Be nice!" He said and ran off. The others just watched him.

After several minutes of senseless bickering and painting, they finally finished their work. They stared at it for a few seconds until they realized that they have finally finished it. Shinji suddenly came closer to the painting and commented on it.

"That's Mona Lisa?" Shinji asked particularly nobody. "To me, it looks like your vice captain with the hat who always has a serious look on his face. Why does he always frown? Did he hit his head with something? He always wears a hat. Is he hiding something?"

"Yeah, it does look like Sanada with no eyebrows..." Jackal realized. "If we draw a hat, it would be like him." He said as he looked at their work. It had a really serious look on his face, and they didn't fix the hair so it was too short.

"Fukubuchou has eyebrows?" A puzzled Kirihara asked. Then he eyed the painting more carefully.

"Yeah! It does look like him! Let's draw a hat on it!" Kirihara exclaimed as he got a marker from his pocket and started scribbling on _Mona Lisa's head. _Ann was shocked when she saw Kirihara drawing on it. She whacked his head again.

"Hey! Stop that! You're ruining it!" She shouted.

"Oww!" Kirihara winced. He stopped when he saw Niou coming.

"Hah! I'm sure your group's work has no match for our work." They heard Niou arrogantly tell one student.

"Really?" The boy asked sarcastically. Then he looked at the painting. He froze. "It looks like a rock with a hat, not Mona Lisa."

"What are you talking about?" Niou said and turned to the drawing. He gawked. "What the? Why the hell did you put a hat?" Niou glared at them. They all pointed at Kirihara.

"Because Jackal-sempai told me it looked like fukubuchou!" Kirihara shouted. "It's his fault!"

"Why me?" Jackal stuttered.

"Puri…." An irritated Niou grumbled. This is probably the first time Ann saw Niou angry and she didn't like it.

'_Where's Marui-sempai when I need him?'_

* * *

Yukimura was wandering around the halls when he passed by 3-B's room. He saw Marui and smiled. HE entered the room.

"That's a very nice painting…" Yukimura beamed and looked at the painting. "You're very good at painting, Bunta-kun."

"Ahh! Yukimura-buchou!" Marui stammered.

"I'm sure if you give that to her, she'll like it." He told Marui. Marui frowned.

"It's not yet good enough…"

"Don't worry it looks great." He smiled again. "Now, why don't you go to them? I'm sure she's there looking for you."

"Really?" He asked. Yukimura nodded. Marui smiled.

* * *

**A/N:** Gah, this is such a lame chapter…I'm still having writer's block. T.T (Seriously, I'm a writer?) I need something to energize me cause I'm getting a little bored with this story again. It's getting lamer and lamer chapter after chapter. Well, anyway if you're actually bored enough to read my A/Ns, would you like to help me get my muse back? Some random request: Can anyone draw me Ann with bangs? Because someone asked me what she would look like if she had bangs so yeah…(I have no talent in drawing XD) Ah, oh well…Please ignore me. Hope you enjoyed this one and kindly leave a review!


	12. Marui's Prize

**Warnings**: Blushing Marui and dumpling-crazed, laughing Niou…and typos.

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to tell you that Konomi-sensei owns PoT and not me?!

**A/N: **Since it's Marui-kun's birthday yesterday, he's gonna get special attention from Ann. So you might expect a lot of blushing from him in this chapter. XD

* * *

"Ahh! Marui-sempai!" Ann exclaimed as she saw Marui with Yukimura approaching her. "I'm so glad you're here. Where have you been?"

"Um…" Marui said, as he looked down and he scratched his head. "I just wandered around."

Ann smiled. "You know, you should have joined us, it was fun painting."

"I thought you guys just drew? Did you actually paint?" Marui asked.

"Yeah, we did. We were surprised when the announcer said painting. Those crayons and other colored pencils were no use." She smiled sheepishly.

"Oh yeah…where's Yukimura-san?" Ann suddenly asked. They didn't notice that he had already left when they were talking. Probably he went to talk to Sanada or Yanagi. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Do we really ignore people when we talk?" Marui was the one to ask the question. Ann looked at Niou and the others. Both of them stayed silent. "They always say we do…well Niou did."

"I think we do." Ann muttered and smiled. "But I don't hear anyone at all, like when they call me or something. I just enjoy listening to you whenever we have conversations…"

Marui averted his gaze on Ann and a small blush crept out of his face. "Me too." Ann also avoided looking at him for a few more minutes. Then they both looked at each other at the same time.

They stood silent for a few more minutes, ignoring everything around them. They just stared at each other's eyes, not moving or anything. They didn't notice that Niou was already calling them. Just him and her, them. Then Kirihara appeared.

"Oh…Marui-sempai's here!" Kirihara shouted. The two snapped out of their thoughts and turned to look at the shouting boy. Marui took one last glance at Ann before he approached his kouhai. Ann followed him and noticed that Kamio was calling her as well.

"But it seems that Kirihara is the only one who can interrupt them." Yukimura said, looking at them from afar. Sanada, who was by his side, nodded. They were talking about what was happening to their regulars and Ann.

"Oi! We have to go on stage. All of the contestants will have to present their work in front of everyone!" Niou told them. Then, Jackal, who just finished talking to Yanagi about something, came to Niou.

"Niou, Yanagi said that outsiders weren't supposed to join the contest!" He whispered to Niou's ear. Niou gave a surprised look.

"What? But almost all of the work was done by him!" Niou told Jackal. "Yagyuu didn't even bother touching the paint. There's no way I'm going to change him. And besides, he said Ann's forehead was big. That's a big plus you know."

Ann, who just heard what Niou said, frowned. Kamio heard it too and sweatdropped. While Kirihara snorted at what his sempai had just said.

"But we'll be disqualified if the judges knew that Kamio joined us." Said Jackal. "And the judges knows that we have six members."

Niou quickly turned to Kamio and gave him a sorry look as soon as he heard 'disqualified'. "I'm sorry Kamio-kun, but we have to change you, for the sake of being honest and for the sake of my stomach's happiness." Niou gave Kamio a fake cry and hugged him. Kamio sweatdropped and so did the others.

"Umm…It's okay. I only did it for Ann-chan anyway." Kamio told Niou, trying to get out of the trickster's _deadly _hug. "I don't mind."

"Kamio-kun…" Ann muttered and gave Kamio a small smile. Kamio blushed.

"Ann-chan…" Kamio said, then he started to wail and tried to hug Ann. "Waahh! Even though your forehead's big and you're probably the worst girl in drawing that you can't even draw a flower, I still like you!!" Ann whacked him.

"My forehead is not big! And I was really young before that's why I can't draw the stupid flower!" Ann fumed.

"Ann-chan, you just drew the flower I was talking about last semester." Kamio said. Ann closed her eyes as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"See? It was a long time ago! I've totally matured now." Ann defended.

"Hah! You're already in second year and you still can't draw a flower?!" Kirihara stared laughing. Ann opened her eyes and glared at him.

"_Shut up." _She spoke in English again. Kirihara did shut up.

"_Contestants, please proceed to the stage immediately." _The announcer said.

Niou held their attention. "Everyone, let's go!" He ordered. Kirihara stopped and asked whom they would replace Kamio with. Niou ignored his question and only pointed at Ann, who was holding Marui's hand and pulling him towards the stage. Marui only followed Ann and looked at her. Kirihara frowned a bit, looking at his sempai and _mortal enemy._ Then he followed Niou as well, looking sour. Kamio and Shinji were left to watch the program with Sanada and Yukimura.

The _happy _little group of the trickster stood in front of the judges nervously. They weren't absolutely confident of their work, it looked like a filthy piece of crap drawn by some immature students like them. Marui sighed, the work his friends did didn't even look anything like the one they were supposed to copy: Mona Lisa. And his kouhai Akaya even added a hat to it, which made the painting even worse. Now he felt sorry that he didn't help them. Though he saw Niou looking all happy and proud of the drawing, even though it looked like trash. He sighed again. He didn't care anyway. He wasn't really after the prize. After all, the cakes and sweets their cafeteria made totally sucks for him. But Niou always liked a certain food made by their school…Dumplings, was it?

"Niou-sempai, you seem happy. Are you confident that we'll win this?" Ann asked the smiling trickster. Niou turned to look at him and he chuckled (rather evilly.). He assured her something: That the others' works are no match for theirs. Ann smiled, seeing her sempai positive and all…Though she wondered, what was he so confident about? Their work can't even be considered art. Out of her curiosity, she looked at the other contestants' work. She noticed that all of them were frowning, as if something terrible had happened. She was surprised to see all of their works destroyed. Some were blotted with paint, others had scribbles at the face of their painting. She gaped at Niou, aware that it was all his doing.

"Eventually, Masaharu had already planned to do this for a sure win…" Yagyuu suddenly said, like he read what was Ann thinking about. "That's why I didn't give any effort to make our work beautiful."

"I knew it all along…" Jackal muttered. Ann stared at him.

"What happened to the sake of honesty?" Marui grumbled. "He did all of this on purpose."

"Ah, Niou-sempai will do anything for free dumplings…" Kirihara mused. Ann shivered at the thought of how Niou was able to do it. He was like someone who'd kill anyone without regrets. Well, that was only her over reacted opinion. She thought that Niou-sempai was not someone to mess with. He was like Yukimura, only Yukimura was creepier. She then turned to look at Yukimura, who just smiled at her then turned to stare at Niou again.

The principal suddenly stood up and clapped at their work, making Ann snap out of her thoughts. The principal smiled at them. "Niou-kun, your group's work is so beautiful and creative! Putting a hat on Mona Lisa is such a unique idea." She exclaimed.

"Ah, Tsukuda-kochou always has perfect eyesight. If you think our work's beautiful, then it must be as beautiful as you." Niou smiled as he sweet-talked their principal.

"Their principal must be very ugly if she's as beautiful as your work…" Shinji randomly mumbled to Kamio. "And she doesn't have perfect eyesight at all if she thought that it's beautiful. It's as ugly as that thirty-year-old guy over there." He said and pointed at Sanada. Kamio sweatdropped and covered Shinji's mouth with his hand, trying to stop him from rambling.

"You don't want to get hurt, do you?"

'_Now I know why this school is full of idiots…It's all because of their principal.' _Ann thought.

The principal chuckled. "I go with Niou-kun's work. It's very beautiful."

'_She IS blind…' _All of them thought.

Their art sensei, Akiyama sighed in agreement to the principal. "I guess there are no other work better than theirs, since all of the others' works were mysteriously sabotaged by SOMEONE…" He said as he eyed Niou. Niou only smiled innocently at him.

'_Do you have any proof…Souta-kun?' _Niou grinned. The teacher glared, as if reading what Niou was thinking. He then looked away. It seems that these two don't get along with each other, basing on the sensei's glares and Niou's unwanted smirks.

"You know what, Niou actually embarrassed that teacher on last year's festival." Marui told Ann as he put his hands behind his head and blew a bubble. He noticed that Ann was looking confused at what the two rivals (Niou and the teacher) were doing. Ann turned to look at him. "Nobody wanted to talk about what happened because sensei would fume and get really angry if you mention anything about _that. _I don't wanna elaborate further because I'd fail my art subject if I tell you anything so…I hope you understand."

"A-ah…" She muttered to let Marui know that she was listening. _'What did HE do?'_

This time, Yanagi was the one to judge. Niou smirked and grinned and did a happy dance since he was certain that Yanagi would also choose theirs. That would result to three same decisions. Though it's already a fact that they are the winners (Because of the principal and the sensei's judgement.), it would be more _'in your face' _for the one who said that their work looked like a rock if they had three yes's. Niou smirked and turned to look at the boy who said it looked like a rock. (We'll call him Noburo.) He laughed at the guy's expression, he was sad because of their sabotaged work and it was supposed to be the most beautiful. Niou's laughing was stopped when he heard Yanagi's decision.

"I choose the painting of Noburo-san's group." He said, which shattered Niou's world. Then he glared at Yanagi. Yagyuu patted his back to comfort him. Niou turned to his doubles partner and leaned on his shoulder again.

"Ne, Hiroshi…Does Yanagi have a grudge on me?" He wailed silently.

"There, there…" Yagyuu muttered.

"_Since two out of three judges picked Niou from 3-B's group, they will be considered the winner!" _The announcer proudly said. _"You may claim your prize anytime you'd like!"_

"Yay!" They happily exclaimed. Niou hugged all of them (even Shinji, who started mumbling after Niou hugged him) as he wailed something about dumpling and jumped around. Ann and Marui laughed at him as Kirihara watched them laugh with each other. Yagyuu and Jackal still remained serious, they had already expected this anyway, while Yukimura smiled and clapped at them and Sanada still remained stoic as usual.

"Not only does my team excel in tennis but also in drawing! Isn't that great Genichirou?" Yukimura happily said. Sanada nodded. "And because I'm really happy, I'll give you my drawing!" He said and got a piece of paper from his pocket and shoved it to Sanada's face. Yukimura was going a little bit rabid. Then Yukimura dragged Sanada to join the group's happiness.

"Everyone! To the cafeteria!" Niou shouted. "Dumplings! Dumplings!" He chanted as all of them followed him. Except for Marui. Ann had soon noticed that Marui was not following them anymore so she decided to stop as well. She looked at him worriedly.

"Marui-sempai?" She asked. "Are you okay? You don't seem happy that we won."

"I'm fine! I'm just not in the mood to go to the cafeteria." He smiled sheepishly at her. "You go with them…I have to go do something."

"Are you sure?" She asked again, as worried as before. "It wouldn't be all that fun without you…"

"Yeah…You better go now or else they'll leave you behind."

"Oookay…if you say so." Ann muttered and turned to follow Niou and the others. She had already taken a few steps away from him when suddenly a hand grabbed hers that made her stop from walking. She was surprised with Marui's gesture and he was even gazing at her. And she could have sworn she saw his face redden, even for a bit.

"Marui-sem—"

"Ann…" Marui muttered. "…Thanks."

Ann gave him a puzzled look, not sure of what he was thanking her for. The others were already gone and they were left out alone. The pathway where they stopped had a long range of Sakura trees aligned on the sides of it, making the scene quite peaceful and calming. The wind blew and some of the petals from the tree fell.

"For wearing the ribbon. I thought that you didn't like it." Marui muttered. "I guess it really looks good on you…"

Ann smiled. "I should be the one thanking you."

Marui let go of her hand, blushing. Then suddenly, Ann kissed him near the lips. It made him blush even more. Ann winked and smiled at him, noticing that he can't say anything. "If you aren't able to enjoy the prize for the contest, you have your own prize from me. Though I'm not sure if you liked it."

"Ann…chan."

"Weren't you supposed to go somewhere, sempai?"

"A-ah…"

"Well then, I'll see you!" She said and bid him goodbye. He was still dumbfounded so he wasn't able to leave.

* * *

"Eh? Where's Tachibana?" Kirihara suddenly asked as he swallowed his food. Niou looked at him, smirking. "Haven't seen her…"

"And where's Marui?" Jackal added. Niou's smirk widened.

"Akaya! Maybe they're alone in some place where petals from the Sakura tree fall and they're having such a sweet time together." He smiled. Kirihara scowled and Kamio gave a surprised look at Niou.

"Ann!!" Kamio and Kirihara shouted as they both stood up from their seats. Niou almost fell down because of laughing so hard.

"I was just kidding! I was only making that up." He said, holding his stomach as he tried not to laugh.

Yagyuu sighed. "Masaharu, stop laughing or you'll choke." He told the trickster. He laughed even more.

"Ah, there she is…" Jackal informed as he saw Ann enter the cafeteria.

"Hi!" She greeted as she waved her hand. Kirihara glared at her.

"Oi, where have you been, you stupid idiot?" Kirihara yelled at her. She winced because of his loud voice.

"He acts like he's her boyfriend." Yagyuu muttered.

"Why do you care?" Ann crossed her arms again. "I was just with Marui-sempai on the place where there was a long range of Sakura trees at the side…"

That made Niou choke. "Hi…roshi…Wa-ter…" He couldn't stop from laughing. Yagyuu handed him a glass full of water.

"What?!" Kirihara almost shouted. Ann covered her ears.

"Will you stop shouting? Your girly voice is making my eardrums explode." She told him. Niou just laughed and laughed.

"How could I stop shouting when an idiot like you is making me jealous?!"

Niou spit out all the water he had drank when he heard what Kirihara said. They all stopped to looked at him and kept silent. "Puri..."

"So…. Akaya likes the new student huh?" Niou smirked, pretending not to know the fact that he already knows that his kouhai likes Ann.

"What? No way! Maybe a little…Aggh! No! I don't like Ann Tachibana because of her pretty smile and her amusing attitude!" Kirihara shouted, refusing to tell the truth. But it was all too obvious to all of them, even Ann. They sweatdropped.

"He's a complete idiot." Kamio muttered. "He is so obvious."

"Heh. You finally admitted it Akaya-kun." Yagyuu said and drank a cup of tea.

"So, Akaya…What do you like about little Ann-chan?" Niou sneered.

"Nothing! I don't find it cute that she doesn't know how to draw! Nothing!" Kirihara shouted again. Ann sighed.

Just then, Yanagi came holding an envelope or something. He approached the happy group.

"Oh!! Our third judge is here!" Niou rolled his eyes. "Care to join us?"

Yanagi raised a brow on him and dropped the envelope on the table. He ordered Niou to open the envelope and he did so. Niou gave a surprised look. The others looked at him then at what the envelope contained. It had all the pictures of Niou destroying the other groups' works. Niou's eyes widened and he looked at Yanagi. How did he get that?

"I'm sorry Niou-kun, you're disqualified from the contest." He said. "All the things you ate, you'll have to pay for it."

Suddenly, Kamio stood up, dragging Shinji along. "Ne. Ann-chan, I think we have to go…" Kamio said.

"Eh? Already?"

Kamio nodded. "We have to do something right now. We're going back to Tokyo now."

"Why do we have to go? It's because Kamio-kun doesn't want to pay anything. He doesn't have any money so that's why he wants to leave before the others make him pay for all the food he ate. He likes food so much, he can't control eating anything. Once, I had to use all the money on my wallet just to pay the food we ate on our date? Can I call it a date? Because there were only the two of us eating together on a restaurant. We really have to go now because Kamio-kun doesn't really want to pay anything and because—"

"Ann-chan, we better go.." Kamio said as he covered Shinji's mouth.

"Okay then, just say hi to onii-chan for me and tell him that I miss him." Ann said. Kamio nodded.

"Well then, we'll see when you go back to Tokyo." Kamio smiled. "I'll miss you and your forehead."

Ann pouted. "Kamio-kun, I never want to see you again."

"See you then!" Kamio said and left with Shinji.

Then they turned again to Niou…He was nowhere to be found. They all sweatdropped. While they weren't looking, he had already ran away. He left a note on the table though, and it was addressed to Yagyuu.

_Hiro-chan,_

_I LOVE YOU… Pay for me, will 'ya?_

_Tender love and care,_

_Masa-chan -heart-  
_

"Niou-sempai is evil…" Kirihara muttered. "He ate too much, so that means a lot to pay for…"

Yagyuu sighed and pulled out a wallet full of money from his pocket. "Take how much you need."

"You're spoiling him, Yagyuu…" Yanagi told Yagyuu.

"What do you expect from him anyway?" Yagyuu answered. "Take how much you need." He said again.

Yanagi sighed and took the money he needed to pay for all Niou and the others ate. Ann looked worriedly at Yagyuu since a lot of money will be spent for their food.

"I'll pay for Kamio-kun and Shinji-kun's food." She said.

"No need." Yagyuu said. Jackal assured Ann that it was okay and pat her head.

"He is known as a gentleman, so you don't need to bother about paying." Jackal said. Ann nodded. "He'd never let women pay anything when he's around."

"Okay then…"

* * *

Marui went home a lot earlier than usual today. He brought the painting along too, he covered it so no one could see it while he carried it home. He entered their house and his mom welcomed him.

"Home so early?" His mom asked. Marui nodded. Then she noticed Marui carrying a small canvas. She smiled. "Bunta-kun, I'm glad to see that you're painting again."

"I'll be in my room…" He grunted and went upstairs. He entered his room and lay down on his bed. He thought for a moment, he just realized that Ann had kissed her. Almost in the lips. Does that mean that she liked him too? Like the way he liked her? Or was it just really a thank you? He wasn't sure of it and not being sure annoyed him. How could a tensai like him not know what that small gesture meant? His thoughts were disturbed when he heard a loud thud inside of his closet. He stood up and opened it. There, he found his brother giving him a cheeky grin.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" Marui raised a brow. "And where's Suzu?" He snapped at him.

"Here I am!" A voice came from under the bed. A small boy crawled out and bumped his head. "Oww!"

"It's because you're not being careful that's why you bumped your head." Marui sighed. He approached the little boy and sat down to pat his brother's head. "Now, why are you guys here?"

"Susumu said that we should go here and surprise you!" Suzu answered. "We want to play!"

Marui smiled at his brothers. They were twins and they loved to play with him. "I'm sorry but onii-chan has something to do right now, maybe later."

"But onii-chan!" Both boys pouted. Marui stood up and got the canvas. He removed the cover and showed it to his little brothers. "Do you see this painting? Onii-chan has to finish it."

"So cool! Onii-chan paints really well! Who is that girl?" Suzu asked. Marui kept quiet and stared at the painting for a moment. "She's my friend."

"Really? But she's a girl!" Susumu said. "So if she's a girl and she's your friend, then she must be your girlfriend, onii-chan!"

Marui chuckled a bit. "It's not like that. She's only my friend. Just like your Aka-niichan and Niou-niichan." He slowly explained to his brothers.

"Ohh…Then she must be a trouble maker too!" Both youngsters concluded. Marui blinked then sweatdropped.

"Actually, she is." Marui laughed. The two gave a surprised look.

"Onii-chan's girlfriend is a trouble maker! Let's tell kaa-san!" The two shouted and went out of the room shouting the same sentence over and over again. Marui sighed and put the canvas on the table near his bed. Then he noticed that his brother, Suzu, had left one of his slippers. He picked it up and was supposed to give it back until he noticed something that shined under his bed. He blinked for a few seconds and then he reached for it and got it. He stared at the thing for a few minutes and realization came. His eyes widened. It was the clip that he was looking for!

_**'I found it…'**_

* * *

**A/N:** That'll be it for now! Please leave a review! It will be loved. Oh and about Marui's brothers, I'm not quite sure if they're twins and I only invented the names but I'm sure he has two brothers… And I'm sure that Marui always plays with his brother (that was his daily routine, adorable, isn't it?) so that's why they expected him to play with them in my story. Well, anyway, let's all say happy birthday to Marui-kun! (Although late) XD Kirihara will have his time, don't worry. Puri!


	13. Of Clips

**Warnings:** Angsty Marui -sobs-

**Disclaimer: **Nope. Don't own 'em.

* * *

"Arrgh! I just said it!" Kirihara shouted as he went out of the school. Luckily, Yanagi arrived and helped him escape from the evil clutches of the dreaded trickster. He had ran away as soon as they started looking for Niou to avoid anymore questions about him liking Ann. He sighed, now he had to find a place to go. He didn't like to go home so early because nobody would be there and he wasn't in the mood to play in the arcades too. "It's all that stupid Tachibana's fault!"

He wandered around while grumbling about his _hatred _for that certain girl named Ann Tachibana though he inserted things like; _it irritates me when she's being cute! _And _I don't blush whenever I see her smiling! _The passersby threw him odd looks because of his strange ramblings. He passed by an accessory shop and something caught his attention. There was a heart-shaped clip displayed. He stopped and stared at it for a few minutes, then decided to enter the shop. He approached the saleslady, who welcomed him.

"Good afternoon Sir!" She beamed as she greeted the boy. "How may I help you?"

Kirihara looked away from the saleslady and scratched his head. "How much is that clip displayed?" He asked and pointed the clip that he was talking about. The saleslady smiled.

"For your girlfriend, perhaps?" She asked innocently. Kirihara's face turned red when he heard what she said.

"What? No way!" He snapped. The girl giggled at the blushing boy. "I do not like her! I don't like her hair, her smile, her big forehead, and her dainty nose!"

A few moments later, Kirihara found himself on the counter, paying for that certain clip. "Che…The things I do for that girl." The cashier heard him mumble. The saleslady eyed him, amused that she had somehow convinced him to buy the clip. Kirihara glared at her as he stepped out of the shop. He even heard her say something about how _his _girl would love it. He scowled and went out of the store and went home.

He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about that stupid girl that always bugged him and how he had accidentally told everybody how he felt about her. It irritated him that he actually bought something for her. He didn't really know why he did it but when he saw her wearing the ribbon his sempai gave her (as he heard from the mumbling guy from Fudoumine.), it annoyed him. He then remembered the clip. He stood up and got it from his table. He opened the small bag and peeked in it. He grimaced at the small accessory.

_'She better like this or else I'm gonna kill her…'_

* * *

_**That Night at Yukimura's house…**_

Yukimura knocked on Ann's door, he was a bit worried, Ann hadn't eaten and she looked so sad. She only went inside her room after they've gone home. There was something bothering her, he presumed. He knocked again but Ann did not give him any answer so he decided to open it.

"Ann?" Yukimura called out as he slowly opened the door. There, he saw Ann sitting on the bed, hugging her knees tightly. It surprised him to see Ann like that and what saddened him was that Ann was crying. He hurriedly approached her.

"Ann? Why are you crying?" He asked worriedly. Ann was sobbing. "Is there a problem?"

"Onii-san…I miss my onii-san…" He heard her mutter between her sobs. Yukimura gave a surprised look and immediately hugged her.

"Are you sad because Tachibana-san wasn't able to visit you?" He asked. Ann merely nodded. Yukimura sighed.

"Onii-san…always—" She stopped when Yukimura hushed and smiled at her. Ann stared at him for a moment and slowly stopped from crying. Yukimura's gentle smile always calmed her.

"There, there…" He whispered and gently patted her head. "I can be your onii-san while you're here."

"Thank you…Onii-san." She muttered and closed her eyes.

"Take some rest…" He said as Ann slowly fell asleep.

Yukimura stayed with Ann until she fell asleep. He understood that Ann missed her brother and he knew that she wanted to see him. After all, she had never been away from him and this was probably the first time that she went away from home. Yukimura also treated Ann as if she was his little sister since she started living in his house. He always took care of her, prepare her breakfast, and answer some of her questions, if she had any. Now it worried him that he wasn't doing a pretty good job as an 'onii-san' because Ann cried. He left her as soon as he was sure that she was fast asleep.

The next morning, Yukimura again visited Ann's room and found her still sleeping. He sat down beside her and gently shook her. "Ann? It's morning, get up."

No response from Ann came. Yukimura tried to wake her up again but it was no use. He then touched her forehead and was surprised to feel that it was hot. Does she have a fever? Well, it looked like it. Yukimura stood up to get some medicine and some cold water. He stopped as he heard Ann call him.

"Yuki…mura-san…" She managed to say as she tried to sit up. Yukimura turned to look at her and smiled.

"Just stay there, I'll get some medicine. You're sick." He said and went out.

Yukimura came back holding some medicine and a glass of water. He approached Ann to give it to her. "Here. Drink this. You'll feel a lot better."

"Thank you, Yukimura-san." She muttered and took the medicine.

"You know, you could always call me onii-san." He told her. Ann managed to smile at him.

"Okay then, onii-san." She happily said. Then she realized that she had school today. "I gotta get up! We're gonna be late." She said as she sat up.

"No you should stay here and take some rest." Yukimura said. "So that you'll get cured fast."

"But—"

"Don't worry, I'll tell Akaya-kun and Marui-kun that you're sick." He smiled knowingly at her. Ann sighed and lay down.

"Stay here okay? I'll be going to school in a few minutes. There's breakfast downstairs." He said and got the glass that Ann used and went out of the room again. Ann nodded.

* * *

Kirihara woke up really early just to go to school and meet Ann. He hastily fixed his things and went out of their house, not even bothering to eat breakfast. He arrived at the school and immediately went to their classroom.

"E-eh?" He muttered as he scanned the room but didn't saw her. "I guess I was too early…I'll wait for her here." He said and sat down on his chair.

Two hours had passed and Ann wasn't still around. They have already even started discussing the event for today! Kirihara fumed on his seat as he waited for Ann to arrive. His classmates even saw some smoke on his head. A few minutes of _patiently_ waiting passed and Kirihara couldn't take it anymore. He stood up looking really angry.

"That moron! She really wants me to look for her, doesn't she!" He shouted which made the class stare at him. He didn't seem to notice though, as he was busy thinking on how to torture a girl named Ann Tachibana. "And to think that I was so excited to give her the damn clip!" With that, he went out of the room, leaving some dumbfounded classmates and an irritated teacher.

He then went to Yukimura's classroom. He courteously knocked on the door, (though it looked like he was going to bang the door open but let's be nice.) and the teacher opened it. He asked for Yukimura to be excused. Yukimura stood up from his seat and approached his ace.

"Yukimura-san, do you know where Ann is?" Kirihara asked.

"Off course Yukimura knows where she is." Sanada suddenly appeared and snap at him. Kirihara gave him a shocked look.

"Fukubuchou?!" Kirihara shouted. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm visiting Yukimura." He answered quickly.

"Anyway, Yukimura-san, have you seen that girl? It irritates me that she didn't show up in class again." Kirihara said, ignoring Sanada all the way.

"I'm sorry but Ann has a fever. That's why she is absent today, Akaya." Yukimura informed him. Kirihara stood there silently. She was absent…and she's sick. So that's why she isn't around. Kirihara had a surprised look on his face.

"Akaya?"

"I'm sorry, I have to go…" He said and ran away. Yukimura smiled at him.

"He really likes Ann, doesn't he?" He said and Sanada nodded. "Wait for me Genichirou, I'll just tell sensei that I'm not feeling well." Yukimura suddenly told Sanada and went inside of the room. Sanada blushed and nodded.

* * *

"How was I supposed to know that she's sick?!" Kirihara told himself as he ran. "Grrr! Why haven't I thought of that?!"

He immediately went back to his classroom and got his things as soon as Yukimura told him that Ann was sick. He left the school and headed for Yukimura's house.

He arrived in front of the house and stopped for a moment. _'What am I so worried about?' _He thought. He ignored that thought and went inside of the house. He ran upstairs and knocked on Ann's door. Never mind knocking, he quickly slammed the door open and saw Ann on the bed. She then turned to look at the person who entered and was surprised to see Kirihara holding the doorknob, panting heavily.

"Kirihara-kun?" She muttered. "What are you doing here?"

Kirihara rolled his eyes. "Geez, you really like to see me worried, do you?" He snapped at her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ann asked him. Kirihara ignored her question.

"You are so weak to get sick at a time like this. It's not even that cold and you have a fever." HE said and proceeded to sit down beside her on the bed. "And you just have to be absent when I need you. It's English day today, you know?"

"Really?" A puzzled Ann asked. Kirihara rolled his eyes yet again.

"Woman, don't you ever read the bulletin boards at school?" Kirihara told her. She pouted. "I need my tutor right now."

"You're insane." Ann snapped at him. Kirihara smirked.

* * *

Niou had just informed Marui that Ann was sick. How Niou knew? That was the biggest question in the entire history of history. But that question didn't even cross Marui's mind because he was too worried about Ann. He also thought that this would be a good time to give Ann the clip since Niou and Jackal weren't gonna be around. He decided to leave class and go visit her. Not knowing that Kirihara had already went ahead of him.

* * *

"Yeah, I'm really insane that I had to fetch my tutor, who is sick." Kirihara snapped back. Ann glared at him.

"You ARE insane." She told him. Then Kirihara grabbed the near pillow and hit her successfully for the first time.

"Hey! I'm sick you—" She was stopped when Kirihara got a hold of her chin and kissed her on the lips. It was a chaste kiss, and Ann was flabbergasted by it. She blushed as Kirihara let go of her.

"What was that about?" Ann asked. Kirihara smirked again.

"Didn't you tell me that when the time comes that I can hit you, you'll let me kill you, right?" He told her.

"But you just kissed m—"

"Well, I did kill your brain, right?" Kirihara suddenly flashed her a peace sign. "I'm sure I did."

He saw Ann just staring at him and doing nothing. He laughed at her, which made her snap out of it. "See? Told you I killed your brain…even though it was only for a few seconds." He said and gave her a cheeky grin.

"Idiot…" Ann blushed. Then her hair went to her face. Kirihara noticed this and smiled. He got the clip from his pocket. Ann gave him a surprised look and he put it on her hair.

"Ahh…This clip. Why is this with you?" Ann asked him as she touched the clip that was now on her hair. "But I thought that it was with Marui-sempai?"

Kirihara raised a brow. "What the hell are you talking about? I bought that so you wouldn't have to use that ribbon again."

"But, this is…My lost clip." She mouthed. Kirihara looked at her strangely.

"Lost clip?" Kirihara asked. Ann nodded and explained to him what had happened that time. "Ohh...But I bought that! It's for you!"

"I know. It's pretty obvious that it's for me." She sweatdropped and looked at him oddly.

"You better like it…or else." Kirihara pouted and looked away. "Or else I'll pout."

Ann giggled. "Was that a threat? You really are an idiot." She smiled at him and thanked him again. "And besides, you're already pouting."

"I am NOT!" Kirihara pouted even more, which made Ann laugh and stood up. Kirihara raised brows on her.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Ann smiled.

"I've got to tutor an idiot like you right? I'm going to get ready for school." Ann told him. "You can't survive this day without me, can you?"

Kirihara laughed at the girl. "Nope! Not at all!" He said and Ann laughed as well.

Marui gently closed the half-opened door and leaned against it. He saw their little fight and the kiss. Something on his chest ached. Was it because he saw that? Was he jealous of them? Does that mean that Ann's action towards him was just really thanks? He reached something in his pocket and got Ann's clip. He held it gently and looked at it. It was quite different from before. He added something to make it prettier. It now had a red ribbon in it, making it more graceful to look at and prettier. He worked on it last night instead of having dinner and eating sweets, just to make her happier. He clenched the small accessory in his hands.

'_Ann…'_

* * *

**A/N:** So, how was it? I hope that makes up for the Marui/An moments last chapter. Don't forgot to leave a review okay? Mou, but why do I feel sad for Marui-kun in this chappy? Oh well! I have some good news: I'm slowly getting over this writer's block thing! And also, my good friend sempai-sama drew me a **"Doujin" cover** for Of Clips and Ribbons. If you have time to be amazed at a smirking Kirihara, adorable Marui, evil Niou, Jackal and Cute Ann, then please do visit my profile and click on the Of Clips and Ribbons link for the awesome picture. That's all for now! Thanks, for reading! -gives hug-


	14. The Blue Bush and The Basketball

**Chapter 14**:The Blue Bush and the Basketball

**Disclaimer: **Nope, I do not own PoT, though I wished I owned Marui's brothers. T.Y

**Warnings: **Softie Jackal

* * *

"What are you doing?" He asked as he saw the girl stand up. Ann smiled.

"I've got to tutor an idiot like you right? I'm going to get ready for school." Ann told him. "You can't survive this day without me, can you?"

Kirihara laughed at the girl. "Nope! Not at all!" He said and Ann laughed as well.

Ann stared at Kirihara for a few minutes and he was getting a bit annoyed with her just looking at him like that. He finally decided to brake the silence and ask, "What?"

"Would you please get out?" Ann told him. Kirihara raised a brow at her. "I am going to get ready for school."

"So?" Kirihara asked, a bit confused as to why he has to go out. She's only going to get ready for school, right?

"I am going to get ready for school." Ann repeated. Kirihara didn't seem to get her point though. Ann sighed then she pointed at herself. "Do you think I can go to school wearing pajamas?"

"Ohh…You're going to get ready for school…." Now, Kirihara understood what she was trying to say. She was going to change clothes. "Ohh…I get it."

"Now, get out." Ann snapped at him. Kirihara didn't seem to do anything again; he just stood there, looking at her.

"Why?" He asked again. A vein popped on Ann's head and she kicked him out of the room. Before she closed the door shut, she told him something. "Do you think I could change clothes while you're in here?"

She banged the door shut.

"Geez, that woman really gets on my nerves." Kirihara grouched. He suddenly stepped on something. He stared at it for a couple of minutes and decided to pick it up.

"Bubblegum?" Kirihara said, as he looked at the small pack of mint bubblegum. "Eh? Was Marui-sempai here a while ago?" He asked no one in particular.

He shrugged and went downstairs to wait for Ann to come out. He sat down on one of the couches on the living room. After a few minutes, Ann came running down the stairs carrying her bag and all set for school. Kirihara sweatdropped. 'Someone sick is as hyper as this?' He thought as he looked at the running girl.

"All set!" She said rather energetically. Kirihara was about to nod when all of a sudden, his stomach grumbled. Ann heard it and chuckle, which made Kirihara annoyed. He glared at the girl.

"Stop laughing!" He yelled at him. It made Ann laugh even more.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Ann smirked. Kirihara frowned.

"It's because…I didn't eat breakfast." He told her. Ann suddenly had the urge to pinch his cheeks, and she did. "Oww! Why'd you do that?"

Ann put down all of her things on the near table. She then proceeded to the kitchen. Kirihara followed her instantly.

"Hmm…That reminds me, I didn't eat breakfast either." She mused.

"Why didn't you eat breakfast? You're sick! You should take care of yourself you know." Kirihara scolded her like he was her mother.

"Why, did you eat yours?" Ann asked him knowingly. Kirihara stopped. "Yukimura-san left me breakfast here and that should be enough for the two of us."

"Take a seat." She ordered him. Kirihara did as he was told and sat down on one of the chairs. She served the food and then sat down next to him. They started to eat quietly, not minding each other. Kirihara kept on stealing glances at her though. He watched her eat. Soon enough, Ann noticed this and stared back at him.

"What?" She asked him firmly. Kirihara shrugged and continued eating his omelet. Now, Ann was the one staring at him. She kept her gaze on him for a few more minutes until she realized that she was staring at him. She sighed and stabbed the omelet.

"Hey, Kirihara…" Ann called him. Kirihara turned to look at her and was surprised to see Ann pointing the fork with the 'stabbed omelet' at him, like she was trying to feed him. Kirihara's face turned red for a bit. "Eat." She ordered him.

Kirihara blinked for a few times and stared at the 'stabbed omelet' that Ann was going to feed to him. He then looked at her. She was looking back at him, with an ominous look on her face.

"Eat." She repeated. Kirihara sighed and opened his mouth to eat the food when suddenly, Ann plopped the omelet into her own mouth. Kirihara twitched. Ann chewed loudly to irritate him more. Yeah, he's irritated all right.

"Are you annoying me or something?" He asked. The girl ignored him and continued to eat happily. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Ann then looked at him, "That's better." She said and smiled. Kirihara gave her a puzzled look, not understanding what she was trying to tell him. "It's because you're quiet, I'm not used to it. I had to irritate you in someway."

"I was?" Kirihara asked and Ann nodded. "Oh."

"I'm done." Ann said and rose from her seat. Kirihara gave her a surprised look. He wasn't even half-finished with his food. "I'm going." She said and went to the living room.

"Hey! Wait for me!" He yelled. "Ann! I'm not yet done!"

Ann turned to look at him. She smirked, "So?"

"Oi!" He shouted and quickly stood up to follow her. "This is what I get for fetching you here? You're gonna leave me?!"

Ann didn't bother to look back. She went out of the house.

"Tachibana!!"

* * *

Marui entered his classroom to get all of his things. He was too worried about Ann that time so he hastily left the room and didn't bother about his stuff just to see her. '_Í should've brought all my things along with me so that I wouldn't have to go back here. I guess I got worried for nothing.' _He thought.

Marui quickly got his bag and suddenly noticed that something was wet and sticky inside of it. He opened it and saw one of his notebooks full of glue. Again. He winced and looked at his seatmate, who was looking back at him with an amused smile on his face. Niou Masaharu had done it again.

"So? How was your visit?" Niou smirked. Marui rolled his eyes and removed the notebook from his bag, leaving it on his table. He then walked out of the room, not even bothering to answer Niou's question. Niou was surprised to see Marui act like that. He never walked out whenever he did pranks on him. Niou stood up. "Oi! Where are you going?!"

"Home. Please, Niou. I'm not in the mood today." He answered before he disappeared from Niou's sight. Niou scratched his head, then sighed.

"Something must've happened…" Niou muttered and sat again, putting his legs above the table and his hands on the back of his head. "He's not in character today… Well, he has mood swings anyway, so…" He closed his eyes.

* * *

Kirihara had somehow managed to catch up with Ann. They entered the school together. Yukimura, who was wondering around again, spotted them and quickly approached them, looking a bit worried.

"Ann? Why are you here?" He asked worriedly. "You're supposed to be at home, taking a rest."

"I'm fine onii-san…" Ann smiled at him. She always feels happy whenever she calls Yukimura onii-san. Though she only does that every time he's there. "Kirihara needed someone to help him with his English, so that's why I'm here to teach the idiot."

"Hey!" Kirihara eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you calling idiot?"

"You, obviously." Ann told him. They started to fight again.

Yukimura smiled at them. He had nothing to worry about now, Ann's having fun with Kirihara. Everyone in the team is happy. The only problem now is Marui. Yukimura saw him go home looking frustrated. He was sure that Marui had seen him but he didn't even bother to say 'hi', and that made him really worried. Usually, Marui would greet him and ask for some sweets.

"Now, now you two. Stop fighting and go to you respective classroom." Yukimura said. They glared at each other before looking at Yukimura.

"Hai, buchou." Kirihara said and bowed. He then grabbed Ann's hand and dragged her to their classroom. Yukimura just waved at them as he watched Kirihara pull her.

"Oh, I forgot…She's sick. I shouldn't have let Akaya drag her like that." Yukimura mused, then he smiled. "Oh well."

* * *

'I never thought that I'd leave the house just to do things like this…' Ann sighed. It's been almost three hours since she left the house because of Kirihara. Now, she was definitely bored. They had been seated on their chairs, doing nothing but listening to the teacher, who was discussing about the 'great' America. She stared at the wall clock and saw that it's already 11:35 am. She sighed again, then looked at Kirihara. He was sleeping while she was there, staring at nothing. Ah, boredom.

'He's so lucky he can sleep anytime he wants…' Ann thought, jealous of Kirihara's 'sleeping talents'. 'What time will this boring discussion end?'

She leaned on her chair to try to get some sleep. She faced the window and saw a blue bush. _'Wait a minute, a blue bush? Is there any thing such as 'blue bush'? It looked like more of something else…'_ She eyed the blue bush and noticed that there was something beside it… _'Is that a basketball or something?'_ Ann rose from her seat to take a better look, only to let her classmates stare at her.

"Miss Tachibana, is there something wrong?" The teacher asked her. Ann didn't seem to mind the teacher, as she was busy looking at the 'blue bush'.

"Sensei, is there anything such as a blue—" Ann was stopped when she heard the blue bush hush her. "Eh?"

'Niou-sempai?' She thought as the 'bush', as she thought, came closer. She sighed and sat down. "Never mind sensei."

"Hmmph." The teacher grunted. "I suppose next time, you won't bother my discussion…" She said and went on.

She saw Niou came closer to the window and look at her as if he was trying to tell something. She didn't understand though. Then she saw the ball hand Niou a small board. The ball now revealed it's true identity. Jackal Kuwahara was handing Niou a small whiteboard and a marker. Niou started scribbling on the board then he raised it up. It read:

_Yo Ann! –smiley-_

_Come out of the room! We want to show ya something! Bring Kirihara along too! XD_

_Meet us at the cafeteria! Puri!_

At first, Ann looked a bit puzzled as to what the trickster was thinking. She sighed and finally nodded. She kicked Kirihara's chair hard (But not that hard to get the class' attention.) to wake him up. A drowsy Kirihara glared at her and mouthed 'What?' She pointed at the window to let him see his sempais. Kirihara blinked a few times before he raised his hand high up. The teacher eyed him.

"What is it, Kirihara-kun?" The teacher asked, a bit annoyed.

"Ne, can Tachibana and I go to the bathroom?" He asked nonchalantly. A few of their classmates laughed hysterically and the girls blushed. The teacher eyed them both suspiciously. Ann blushed a bit then whacked his head. Kirihara flinched.

"Why'd ya do that?!" Kirihara yelled at her. Ann glared and took a glance at Niou. She didn't see him anymore, probably left already. But what she didn't know, the trickster was still there, rolling and laughing on the grass as Jackal tried to calm him down. Ann sighed and tried to clear what Kirihara had just stated.

"We'll go separately, sensei." Ann said and dragged Kirihara out of the room. Ann could still hear the guys holler.

"Hey! Stop dragging me!" Kirihara shouted as he tried to release himself from Ann's powerful grip. Ann glared at him.

"Do you know how embarrassing it is, what you've said?" Ann yelled back, irritation evident in her voice. "Try to use your feeble mind and figure out what's wrong with what you have just said."

"All I did was excuse ourselves from the class…" Kirihara pouted. Ann let out an exasperated sigh.

"You're hopeless." Ann muttered. Since when has Kirihara's pout been a powerful weapon against her? "I don't know what I'm going to do with you…"

"Mou…" Kirihara pouted even more. He then let himself be dragged by the girl.

Ann scanned the cafeteria for a while then saw Niou and Jackal seated on one of the chairs, waving at her. She waved back and approached them.

"Puri? Done going to the bathroom already?" Niou smirked rather slyly. "It's okay, take your time…Don't mind us."

"Sempai…" Ann muttered. "…Stop it."

"Mou, Ann-chan is blushing!" Niou's smirk grew wider. Kirihara noticed as well and began to tease her too.

"It's the first time I saw her blush." Kirihara smirked. "Why is it, Ta-chi-ba-na?"

Niou and Jackal sweatdropped. Hadn't he already noticed that it was about him?

"That's it, I'm leaving." Ann said and began to walk out. Niou laughed.

"So, Ann-chan's also hot-tempered, huh?" Niou grinned. Ann then turned to look at the trickster and she gave him mighty death glare.

"Sempai, kindly shut up and die." She told him. Niou was flabbergasted. It's the first time he really shut up because of an order. Only Ann was able to do it to him.

'_Puri…interesting.' _Niou smirked again then he chased Ann before she could leave the place. "I was only kidding! Come with us! We're going somewhere."

Niou led the gang to somewhere that's supposed to be prohibited to students. It was an old building located at the back of the main building and it seemed deserted. Ann's eyes widened. What were they going to do there? They entered and saw nothing but darkness, because all of the windows were covered with wooden planks. They continued to walk inside.

"Sempai, not that I'm scared or anything but…What are we doing here?" Ann asked rather anxiously. It was true, she wasn't scared at all and she was just curious as to why they were there. Niou smirked; they can barely see it though, because of the darkness that surrounded the halls as they walked.

"They said that ghosts live here. Rumor says that if you enter this place, you'll never be able to come out ever again." Niou said, trying to scare Ann. But Ann didn't even flinch. The other person, named Kirihara Akaya, trembled a bit. "We're going to find out if that rumor is true."

"They also said that there's a piece of real gold located in here." Jackal added. "I think that's what those ghosts were guarding here."

"Se-sempai…Is that true?" Kirihara asked. Nobody answered him and they continued to walk. Then suddenly, Niou paused and turned to look at his kouhai. "It is…Akaya." He muttered as he placed a flashlight below his chin and scared the pants off Kirihara.

"Seeemmmppppaaaiiii!!" Kirihara shouted in fear. Niou dropped on the floor and started laughing simultaneously. Jackal and Ann too, laughed a bit.

All of sudden, They heard a loud crash from somewhere and Kirihara saw a small girl dressed in white on the mirror beside him. Out of surprise, they started running. Especially Kirihara, who was terrified since they entered. Ann followed him, not noticing that Niou and Jackal ran the opposite direction. Kirihara and Ann ran deeper into the building while Jackal and Niou ran the opposite way. Outside…? Puri.

"Oi! Kirihara! Wait for me!!" She shouted as she chased Kirihara. Kirihara still ran and Ann was already having a hard time catching up with him. She panted then gave up. She dropped on the floor, alone. "Ma…" She huffed, not able to continue what she was going to say, she was too tired of chasing Kirihara. "…i-sem…pai."

Kirihara continued to run and entered a random room. Then he noticed that he was alone. He halted and scanned the room he was in. He guessed that he was in a Music room, since he found a piano and a big harp. Then the piano started playing. Kirihara froze. "Ann?"

He realized that he left Ann. He heard her call him but he didn't even look back. He mentally cursed himself. How could he have left Ann?! He went out of the room immediately to search for her, not remembering the piano was playing by itself. "Ann!!"

"Eh? He wasn't scared?" A voice muttered.

He searched every room, slamming the doors open. But he couldn't find her. '_Where could she have gone?_ 'He asked himself. Then he noticed a small figure on a corner, alone. It seemed like a person, because it was hugging its knees. Now he realized that that was Ann. He hurriedly approached her.

He sat down with her and put her head on his shoulder. Ann looked surprised. Kirihara closed his eyes and whispered something to her.

"I'm sorry…"

* * *

"Gah! I can't believe my how-to-make-Akaya-crazy plan failed!" Niou cursed as he watched the scene from a small monitor. Jackal sweatdropped and patted his back.

"Well, at least you brought them together." Jackal comforted. Niou glared at him.

"I'm a trickster, not a match-maker." He said. "Though I must admit that this amused me." He smirked.

Jackal smiled and turned the monitor off. Niou eyed him and he just shrugged. "Now that they've amused you, why don't you give them some privacy?"

"Jackal…" Niou looked teary-eyed. "You are such a softie." He said and hugged him like a kid who's hugging a cat.

"Get off." Jackal snapped at him. Niou hugged him even tighter.

"Softiee!!"

* * *

Ann looked at Kirihara. He was frowning and he looked really sincere. She unconsciously smiled at the boy. "Thank you…Kirihara-kun."

"Hn…"

They stayed quiet for some time. Now, Ann didn't irritate the silent Kirihara like she did that morning. She liked his silence now. It was peaceful. It was a bit dark and only dim daylight illuminated the area. Ann was slowly falling asleep. She was feeling sleepy since she attended the class so no wonder she wanted to sleep now. Kirihara opened his eyes and saw a small box just right in front of them. He blinked.

"Hey Ann," Kirihara tried to call her attention. "Ann…wake up."

"What is it?" Ann muttered. Kirihara pointed at the small box.

"Do you see that box?" He asked. Ann turned to where he was pointing and spotted it as well. She nodded. Kirihara went near it and got it.

"There's something in it…" Kirihara tried to peak on it but the dim light wasn't enough to let him see what's inside. He got it out of the box and raised it up so that they can clearly see. They looked up to it and saw a flower-shaped brooch. Ann stared at it in awe.

"It's pretty." She said as she looked at it shine. Kirihara frowned and placed it back inside of the small box. "Maybe it's the treasure Jackal-sempai was talking about. It looks really expensive, it's gold right?"

"Let's leave it there. It belongs to someone else." Kirihara said and remembered the girl he saw on the mirror. He put it back on the floor and stood up, helping Ann as well. "Come on, let's get out of here."

They walked out and passed by the said mirror. Kirihara didn't bother to look at it. He was holding onto Ann's hand really tight. As soon as they walked pass by it, the girl appeared and smiled at them. She watched them get out of the building, holding each other's hands.

* * *

Outside, Niou and Jackal were waiting for them.

"Akaya! Ann! Are you okay? How was your date?...I mean…Are you hurt?" Niou asked 'worriedly'. Kirihara shook his head.

"Sempai, we're fine." He said and let go of Ann's hand.

"Hey, we're sorry we made up stories about the building." Jackal apologized. "There isn't any gold there. It's just a deserted building. It's all Niou's idea."

Niou's eyes widened. "Jackal! How could you betray me?" He wailed.

Kirihara smirked. "Really? You just made that up? I think what you've told us is true." He said. He pulled out something from his pocket and flashed a coupon for free dumplings. "Niou-sempai, this is gold for you, right?"

Niou blinked. "Ne Akaya, did I already told you that you're my favorite kouhai and I love you so much?"

"Care to say it again?" Kirihara smirked.

'_Where did he get that coupon?' _Ann asked herself. "Oh well."

* * *

**Preview time!**

**Sneak peak**

"Susumu! She's that trouble making girlfriend of Onii-san!" Suzu shouted. The other boy's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah! I remember her!" Susumu shouted back. Ann blinked. "Oi! Nee-san! Come with us!"

- - -

Ann eyed the unfinished painting of herself. She never thought her sempai could draw so well. She was really awed by his skills. "I guess his boasting of his tensai-like skills weren't just plain boasting."

She was disturbed by a loud thud that came from the door. There, she saw her sempai staring at her, completely surprised of her sudden visit. He muttered, "You…What're you doing here?"

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. I had a hard time thinking of what will happen in this chapter and ended up having them go on a haunted building…Pretty lame again. And the preview isn't really detailed; I just want to give you a clue on what'll happen next. Hope you enjoyed this one and leave a review!


	15. A Day With the Marui's

Ann stopped and looked at her wristwatch. It was already three thirty in the afternoon. She then turned to look at Kirihara and her sempais, who were fighting over a small coupon for free dumplings. She sighed and tried to stop Niou from strangling his kouhai. Yes, Niou would do anything for free dumplings. Jackal followed her and stopped them as well.

"Oi, you guys, stop it." Jackal said as he took hold of the trickster.

"But it's not fair! I already told you I love you, Akaya!" Niou shouted as he struggled from Jackal. Kirihara pocketed the coupons then smirked. "Give me the coupon!"

"That's what you get for tricking us, sempai." He said mockingly. Niou suddenly stopped struggling and gave Kirihara the same smirk he gave him a while ago.

"I bet you enjoyed that, little kouhai." He told him teasingly. Then he turned to Ann. "I'm sure both of you did."

Both Ann and Kirihara blinked innocently and finally realized what Niou was trying to imply. Both of them fumed and shouted at him, "We did not!"

"Sure." Niou grunted as Jackal let go of him. Waving goodbye, both of them walked away. "Well, we'll see you guys later…or not."

As their sempais left, they turned to look at each other. Ann was giving Kirihara a small glare while Kirihara blinked innocently. Ann gave him an exasperated sigh and told him, "I need to go too…Yukimura-san told me that we'll walk home together."

Kirihara looked at her and finally nodded. "Fine." He said and walked away.

Ann watched the boy leave then proceeded to look for Yukimura on the garden, since she was told that Yukimura loves to hang out there. On her way there, she passed by Yanagi and stopped to ask him, "Yanagi-san, do you know where Marui-sempai lives? I didn't see him around and thought that maybe he's at home."

"Marui?" Yanagi asked.

"Yes. I was supposed to ask Yukimura-san but since you're here, I might as well ask you. " She said. Yanagi stared at her for a moment, curious as to why she was asking for Marui's address. He disregarded his curiousity and answered her questions.

"Thanks, Yanagi-san." She said with a smile on her face and ran off. Yanagi nodded and turned to look at the boy approaching him, Yukimura.

"Seiichi." Yanagi muttered as he saw Yukimura smile at him.

"I'm sure Ann would make Marui-kun feel better." He said as he stood beside the data master. "Thank you for helping her."

"I just followed what you told me to do." Yanagi told him. "You can really read what will happen."

Yukimura gave him a gentler smile and a faint chuckle. "It's all in the probabilities, Renji."

* * *

"Mmm…4th corner, 4th corner…Where is it?" Ann mused as she walked slowly on an unknown street. Yanagi told her that Marui's house was located on the 4th corner near a cake shop. She was in front of the said cake shop but she couldn't find that certain street. She sighed in disappointment. Who would've thought that looking for her sempai's house could be this much trouble? She continued to walk nonchalantly until she bumped into a certain woman.

"Oops…I'm really sorry ma'am. I wasn't looking as to where I was going…" She apologized at the lady.

"It's fine, it's fine." The lady smiled at her and she smiled back. The lady then stared at her for quite some time, eyeing her intently. "You seem very familiar…"

Ann blinked. She doesn't recognize the lady but the latter was familiar with her. "Umm…is that so?"

The lady nodded and suddenly asked her, "Do you, by any chance, know my son, Bunta?"

"Bunta?" Ann unconsciously asked as she stared blankly at the lady. "Your son?"

"Mmm, I'm his mother, Fuyumi." She beckoned.

"…Tachibana Ann…" She muttered.

'_Marui-sempai's mother? But she looks so young! Like only on her 20s! She looks so pretty too…'_ She thought as she examined the other. She had a really long and wavy hair and was quite beautiful. She also wore a gentle smile on her face, almost the same smile that Yukimura had. She gawked at her with awe.

"You're Marui-sempai's mother?!" Ann asked. "Bu-but…You look so young!"

She chuckled. "Do I, Ann-chan? Well, I'm only in my thirty's after all… What are you doing here alone anyway?"

"I was actually supposed to visit sempai right now but I guess I kinda got lost." She smiled sheepishly.

"Were you?" She asked. "Then we could go together. I was heading home anyway."

"Really?" She asked eagerly and the other nodded. "Thank you Marui-san!"

* * *

After a quick walk, they finally reached the house and entered. Ann observed the house and stared wondrously at everything she saw. The house looked really good outside, it wasn't that big but it was really pretty and it was even prettier in the inside! Everything was squeaky clean and well maintained. She snapped out of her trance when she heard her sempai's mother calling her.

"Ann-chan? Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Marui-san!" She said apologetically as she waved her hands again and again. Fuyumi smiled in relief.

"Why don't you sit down over there while I prepare some snacks?" She said and went to the kitchen. Ann nodded.

She then remembered her real purpose in visiting. "Where is…" She asked though Fuyumi didn't seem to hear her. "…Marui-sempai?"

She sighed and sat down on one of the couches. She waited for her sempai's mother as she stared at the paintings displayed on almost every part of the living room. She swayed her legs as she stared at them lovingly, admiring the beauty of each painting. She then heard some soft whispers.

"Is it her?" One small voice asked. She raised a brow on the piano; it looked like the voice came from there. Then she turned to look at the other couch in front of her. "Is it the intruder?"

"I'm positive." Another small voice answered. Two identical boys suddenly appeared before her, both pointing a toy shotgun at her. They were even wearing some sort of military clothes. Ann stared surprisingly at the two small boys who were giving her identical glares.

The boy from the left paused for a minute then finally spoke, "She's no intruder, she's just a girl!"

The boy on her right eyed her seriously. "You're right. She's just an ordinary little girl."

"Excuse me? Who are you calling little?" Ann asked suspiciously.

"Ahh! I know her! She's onii-chan's trouble making girlfriend!" The other boy shouted, completely ignoring Ann's query.

"Trouble making girlfriend?" Ann said quizically.

"You're right, Susumu! I remember her!" The other boy shouted back as his eyes widened.

"Suzu! Come on!" Susumu ordered his twin and signaled him to hide under the piano.

"Err…I don't see the reason why you two have to shout. You're only two feet away from each other anyway…" Ann sweatdropped.

"Quiet! And sit up straight!" The twins yelled at her. She sat straight immediately.

"Susumu, I think she will be a fine comrade. General onii-chan will be happy to see her." Suzu stated proudly as his twin nodded in agreement. "Now, we need to train her thoroughly so that she'll become a fine warrior."

Ann blinked for a few seconds and smirked at the twins, amused. Both glared at her.

"Oi! There shall be no smirking around here! We are serious." Both yelled. Ann gave them a fake frown and nodded seriously.

"Aye, aye, sir!" She saluted. She decided to play their little game. The two boys saluted back and stood straight.

"That's great soldier…erm…" Suzu's voice faded then a sheepish grin appeared on his cut face. "Nee-chan, what was your name again?"

"Ann reporting for duty sir!" Ann stated and chuckled. The other two laughed as well.

"Nee-chan's fun!" Susumu said.

"And cool!" Suzu added.

"Now could any of you two tell soldier Ann-chan where General onii-chan is?" Ann asked playfully. The twins laughed harder.

"General onii-chan is not yet here." Susumu informed. Ann stopped laughing and frowned a bit. The other two stopped as well seeing Ann's face.

"…But we could take you to General's room so you could wait for him there!" Suzu said. Ann smiled gently at them and both blushed.

"Nee-chan's so cool!" Susumu shouted as he dragged Ann upstairs.

"Nee-chan! Come with us!" Suzu said as he led them up.

* * *

"This is general's room." Susumu said as he opened the door. "This is where we have our meetings."

They suddenly heard the phone ring and the twins immediately looked downstairs, alert like a real soldier. Then they turned to look at Ann and said in unison, "I'm going to answer the phone!"

"What? Hey! I heard it first, Suzu! I'm the one who's gonna answer it!" Susumu shouted at his twin.

"No! I heard it first!" Suzu said and ran downstairs. Susumu glared at him and followed immediately.

"Nee-san, we'll be back!" Susumu said before he ran down as well. Ann smiled at them and nodded.

She entered the room and observed it for a second. She then spotted a small easel on the corner of the room that was covered with a white sheet. She blinked for a few times and decided to look at it. She removed the covering and was surprised to see the painting. Her eyes widened in surprise and amazement.

It was a painting of her wearing her lost clip. But the clip was sort of different because it had a small ribbon attached to it. She was smiling at something on the painting. She gawked at it. It was too beautiful. Though it wasn't finished yet, she could already see the outcome. The coloring was amazing and it was really well detailed. She even dropped her bag in astonishment.

"Sempai… drew this?" She managed to say. "_I never knew…but why didn't he join us on the contest? If he was this good, then we would've won that without Niou-sempai cheating…"_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud thud, which she guessed came from the door. She turned to look at the source of the noise and found her sempai, staring at her, bewilderment visible in his eyes. She stared back at him, also surprised to see him. Marui's head sagged, his bangs covered his eyes.

"Ann…what're you doing here?" He muttered as he entered the room and quickly snagged the white sheet from Ann's hands and covered the painting.

"Sempai…" She said as she watched her sempai cover the painting. He was still wearing the school uniform only his necktie was tied loose and he had big headphones around his neck. Ann stepped back and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, I just got curious…I didn't mean to—"

Marui sighed. "Well, what can I do? You already saw it." He then tossed himself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Ann just stared at him blankly.

"I was supposed to give that to you when I finish it as a surprise but since you already saw it…" Marui told her as he patted the soft bed, signaling her to sit down. She did as she was ordered and sat down next to him.

"It's really pretty. I never knew you were so good." She told him.

"Well, I used to paint before I played tennis." Marui said and closed his eyes. "I stopped when I got bored."

"You got bored? Why?" Ann asked.

"I don't know…I just suddenly didn't feel like painting." He answered. "I got hooked on tennis and forgot all about it. Even the others didn't know that I paint."

"Oh…" Ann muttered. Marui opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Well, I'm kinda getting hooked on it again." Marui said. Ann smiled at him.

"You're really good at it." She told him. Marui smirked.

"Isn't it ingenious?" He said. They both laughed.

"Nope." Ann immediately replied. Marui sat up and pouted.

"Why not?" He asked 'sadly'. Ann chuckled.

"Because it just isn't." Ann simply said and shrugged.

"Aha! You're having a meeting without us, aren't you?" Susumu entered the room and pointed accusingly at the two. Suzu quickly followed his twin while holding a small video cam on his hands.

"Yeah, we're already planning to attack you. Be careful." Marui teased and jumped out of the bed. Ann smirked.

"Yeah be careful…" Ann warned. Both boys' eyes widened. "Or we might shoot you guys dead."

"They're cheating!" Both shouted and ran down the stairs.

"Suzu! Get the weapons from our room!" Susumu ordered as he and his twin went out of the room. The other two laughed.

"So, are we really going to play their game?" Ann asked. Marui walked to the closet and opened it. He picked up two toy shotguns and tossed the other one to Ann. Ann caught it and looked at Marui.

"Of course we are." Marui answered. "Now come on, I know where they're hiding."

"Hai, General Onii-chan!" Ann said and gave him a hand salute. They silently walked out of the room and crept downstairs. They walked passed the kitchen and saw Fuyumi preparing a strawberry cake. She spotted them tiptoeing their way to the twin's room and smiled at them.

"Be quiet, those two are good." Marui whispered as he gently opened the door to their room. Ann nodded and followed him. He peeked into the room and found no one in it.

"You guys think you could sneak up on us?" The arrogant voice came from Suzu, who was on their backs. They turned to look at him and Marui quickly fired his gun. A blob of paint came out. Suzu easily dodged it and fired at Marui as well. Marui ducked and fired once more.

Susumu, on the other hand, was hiding under their bed and fired, hitting Ann's foot. Ann turned to him and bent down as she fired her gun as well, also hitting Susumu in the face. He glared at her and crawled out of the bed and fired continuously. Ann ducked, jumped, skipped and twirled around just to avoid the shots and was successful on doing so. Susumu pouted, disappointed that she couldn't hit her.

"Nee-chan's really cool!" Suzu said as she turned to look at his twin brother's fight. "Susumu can't even hit—"

"Gottcha!" Marui exclaimed as he hit Suzu's face. Suzu pouted.

"Onii-chan! That's not fair! I wasn't looking!" Suzu whined. "You're really a cheater."

Marui smirked as he pointed his index finger up and said, "You should never be distracted when having battles."

"But you aren't fair…" He said. Ann chuckled and stood up, firing her gun at Marui at the same time, hitting him in the face. Marui gave a flabbergasted look and pouted.

"Hey! You're not fair!" Marui pointed accusingly at Ann. She smiled innocently at him.

"That's what you did to Suzu, right?" She grinned. Marui gave her a fake glare.

"Whose side are you on anyway?!" Marui asked. Ann shrugged and pointed at the twins.

"Sempai, have you heard of people called spies?" She asked innocently. The twins cheered.

"Nee-san's on our side! Nee-san's on our side!" They repeated again and again.

"You dirty little—" Marui said.

"Look who's talking. I'm not the one who has paint all over my face…" She grinned. Marui then fired his gun and hit Ann's face.

"What were you saying?" Marui smirked. Ann glared and fired at him as well. The twins watched in astonishment.

"They're fighting against each other…" They muttered as a big grin slowly appeared on their faces. "Cool!"

* * *

"My, my, I guess you guys enjoyed yourselves." Fuyumi smiled at her children and Ann, who were all soaking with paint. It had been hours since they started playing and they only finished now, when it was dinnertime. They seem to have enjoyed their little war and forgot about the time.

"Suzu, Susumu, changed your clothes now." Fuyumi told the twins and they immediately followed. She then turned to her eldest son. "Bunta, give Ann some clothes and let her change."

"Oh no! It's all right. I'm going home soon anyway, I'll just change there." Ann declined the offer. Marui closed her eyes and went upstairs.

"Do you think you can go out of the house wearing your uniform that's filled with paint? I'm sure everyone will laugh at you." He told her as he went up.

"Oh yeah…" Ann smiled sheepishly at her sempai and followed him upstairs. Fuyumi just smiled.

* * *

"I'm glad that your mom's okay with all this…I mean our game was kinda messy and stuff." Ann said as she sat down on Marui's bed. Marui opened his closet and looked for some clothes to wear.

"Yeah, she's used to it…We play like this all the time and she's completely fine with it." Marui answered. He finally found a shirt that'd fit her and tossed it to her. "Is that fine with you? That's the smallest I could find. I'll meet ya downstairs."

"Yep. It'll do." She said and held the shirt up. Marui went out of the room immediately, closing the door on the way. Ann watched him go and sighed. "I'm such a mess."

She quickly took off her vest and wore the shirt Marui gave. It was still kind of big for her but it was good enough. Good thing her skirt wasn't that dirtied or else she would've had more trouble looking for clothes to wear.

* * *

Sitting down on one of the dining chairs, Ann sighed. How did it end up like this? Wasn't she supposed to go home right after she changed clothes? Now, she was staying for dinner. She glanced at everyone in the room, from the twins to Fuyumi and to her sempai. They had all insisted that she should stay for dinner. She couldn't decline because they were too persistent. It's like a four against one battle and she couldn't win.

"I'm glad that you stayed for dinner, Ann." Fuyumi said with delight. "Now, let us all eat."

"Nee-chan…why won't you eat?" Susumu asked between his chews. "Mom's cooking is really great!"

Ann looked down at her plate for a moment, then turned to look at the small boy and smiled. "I'm just worried about Yukimura-san, I told him we'd walk home together today."

"Seichi-niichan?" Suzu asked and Ann nodded.

"Yukimura-kun already called about fifteen minutes ago. I answered it and he told me that he had already gone home. He knows you're here." Fuyumi said and took a bite from her food.

"Don't worry," Marui said. "I'm sure he's okay with you staying a little late."

Ann smiled and started eating. "I guess."

Slowly finishing dinner, they heard trickling water from outside. Fuyumi slowly stood up from her seat and took a peak at the window. It was raining really hard. Fuyumi sighed and went back to her seat.

"Looks like no one's going out of the house until the rain subsides…" She said.

Ann blinked. "Uh-oh…"

"Ann, why don't you stay here for the night? I think the rain won't stop until tomorrow." Fuyumi told her and gave her a smile.

"I don't know…Yukimura—"

"Please?" All of them, including Fuyumi pleaded. The twins gave her puppy dog eyes while her sempai winked at her. Fuyumi just smiled her _I'm-so-pretty _smile at her. Ann sighed and nodded.

"Then I'll call Yukimura-kun and inform him right now." Fuyumi said and went to the phone.

The twins cheered and jumped out of their seats and ran around the room. "Onii-chan's trouble making girlfriend is staying! Onii-chan's trouble making girlfriend is staying!"

Ann chuckled and turned to Marui. "What's with this trouble making girlfriend thing?"

Marui sighed and laughed. "Long story."

"Ne," Suzu tugged Ann's shirt. "Nee-chan, will you live here forever?"

Ann sweatdropped. "No I can't, Suzu."

"Yeah, will you live here forever, my trouble making girlfriend?" Marui asked teasingly. Ann sweatdropped once more and pinched him on the cheeks.

"No. I. Can't." Ann told them. "You know that very well, sempai."

"Yukimura-kun told me that he's okay with you staying." Fuyumi suddenly approached them, making them stop from talking at the same time.

"Yay!" The twins and Marui cheered. Ann smiled at her fellow 'soldiers.'

Marui stood up from his seat and dragged Ann along with him. The twins tried to chase them but he warded them off, saying that he and Ann will have a strategic meeting. The twins blinked momentarily and saluted and stayed on their places. They went upstairs and entered Marui's room.

"Sempai, what are we supposed to do here?" A puzzled Ann asked as she watched her sempai open the drawer and got some painting materials. Marui gave her a cheeky grin and approached her, giving her the paintbrush. Ann stared at him, waiting for an answer as she held the paintbrush.

"I'm going to teach you how to paint." Marui proudly stated. "I'm sure a tensai like me will be able to teach an amateur like you…"

"Hey, not just because you're so good at this stuff you can call me an amateur…" Ann pouted.

"Are you not?" Marui grinned. Ann sighed and gave in.

"Fine. I am an amateur."

"Now all you need to do is…" Marui muttered as he got another canvas from the closet and proceeded to sit down on the bed. "Follow what I do."

"Follow you? But you're too good for me to catch up." Ann protested and mirrored Marui's movements and sat on the bed as well. Marui smiled at her and gave her the canvas. "Now, draw the first thing that comes into your mind."

"Draw the first thing that comes into my mind?" Ann repeated. Marui nodded and handed her a palette of paint. Ann thought for a few minutes and finally dipped the brush into the paint and started doodling on the white canvas she held. After a few minutes, she came up with a boy who had curly black hair and had a smirk on his face. Marui blinked for a few times and realized that it was someone utterly familiar…Really familiar. Kirihara Akaya, his kouhai. So that's the first thing that popped into Ann's mind, Kirihara. Marui frowned a bit, a little disappointed at her drawing. Ann was rather oblivious to his frown and continued doodling on the canvas. He stared blankly at it.

After she drew Kirihara, she washed the paint off the brush and dipped it onto another color. She then started painting another person, someone whom had red hair and was blowing a gum. Marui then realized that Ann was drawing him. She glanced at him for a moment, trying to study his features. She turned to the canvas again and started painting a new person. She now came up with someone who had pointy hair and had the same sly smirk Kirihara had. It was none other than the trickster, Niou. Marui continued to watch her, unconsciously smiling at the painting. She continued to paint until she finished with it. It had all of the Rikkai tennis team regulars in it. Though not that well-drawn, (because it IS Ann.) Marui seemed to like the drawing. It was lively and colorful.

"You told me to paint the first thing that comes into my mind right? Well, I thought of all you guys, who became my first friends here in Rikkai…" Said Ann, smiling at the painting and raising it up high. "You guys did a lot for me and I really appreciate it."

Marui stared at her and smiled. Ann turned to him and said, "Too bad I have to leave tomorrow afternoon…"

Marui's smile turned into a frown. He had forgotten that Ann's stay would only last till tomorrow. He looked at the girl and said, "Can't you stay a little longer?"

Ann shook his head. "Not really, I kind of miss my brother too and I want to see him real soon."

Marui smiled and stood up. He approached his unfinished painting and removed the covers. Ann watched him and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to finish this painting as soon as possible so I can give it to you." Marui told her. "You can sleep now if you want. I know that you're tired from everything that happened today."

"But where will you sleep?" Ann asked. Marui gave her a cheeky grin and said,

"I could always sleep beside Suzu and Susumu. They really like it when I hang out with them."

Ann chuckled and lay down. "You're a really nice brother. I wish I had a brother like you, well, not that I'm saying I don't like my brother but it would be fun to have a brother who'd teach you how to paint, right? None of us can't even draw, I guess it runs in the family. Great, now I'm mumbling like Shinji-kun…I think I got this habit from him." She said and smiled sheepishly.

"That's okay. It's fun to listen to you anyway." Marui said, as he continued painting, not bothering to look at her.

"Sempai, did you know that abandoned building at the school? Niou-sempai took us there for ghost hunting."

"Really?" Marui asked, gently painting Ann's hair on the canvas. Ann nodded.

"We even got separated. Good thing Kirihara was there with me." Ann mused. Marui looked stopped to look at her.

"Akaya?"

"Mmm! We even saw a ghost!" Ann exclaimed. "Good thing Kirihara was there with me."

Marui paused. They went into some haunted building without him? Kirihara was there to protect Ann from anything while he was there, at some random shop doing nothing? He frowned, good thing nothing bad happened to her or else he would've blamed himself if anything did happen. Call it over protective or anything you want to call it but he really cared for Ann. Not as friends or sister or anything like that. He likes her. Marui frowned and told her, "You better get some rest, Ann. I'm sure you had a tough day."

Ann blinked then nodded. "Hai, sempai."

_**He likes her…**_


	16. Devils in Training

**Chapter 16: Devils-in-Training**

**Disclaimer:** I wish I did…so that there'll be _some _MaruAn and more KiriAn moments on both anime and manga T.(T

**Claiming:** Every typo you'll see in here is mine XD _"Gome"_ LoL.

**A/N: **Hope you enjoy this one! Though I didn't, I felt a little sad. Anyway, ignore me…I'm an idiot. Read and Review! It will make me reeaaallly happy! This one's short…sorry.

* * *

"Sempai!" Ann shouted as she sat up from the bed. She scanned the room and found herself alone in her sempai's room. She blinked. She thought for a few minutes and remembered that she had just fell asleep while talking to Marui last night. She then looked at the window, it was morning already, and the sun lighted room. She yawned and got up.

She slowly opened the door and found Marui in front of her. He was also about to enter the room to check up on her when Ann opened it. Ann rubbed her eyes and Marui looked at her.

"Ohayou…sempai." Ann muttered and yawned again. Marui nodded and handed her a set of uniform.

"Here." Marui said and shoved the uniform into her arms. She quickly got it and looked at him. "Use that."

"But, sempai…Where'd you get this?" Ann asked as she held the girl's uniform.

"From Niou." Marui grumbled and remembered what he and Niou did some time ago. "He dressed me up in girl's uniform when we were first years and tricked some guy who thought I was a girl. That person was shocked when he found out that I was a guy. I even heard he was heartbroken."

Ann stared at him for a minute; he was blushing and scratching his head as he looked away. She then giggled softly. Marui blushed even more.

"What?! Don't laugh at it!" Marui scolded. "It was Niou's idea!"

"Sempai is such a heartthrob! I wonder what sempai looked like in a dress?" Ann teased. "That would've been an amusing sight!"

"I was in first year and I didn't know that Niou was THAT evil!" Marui shouted, then crossed his arms. "I don't even remember why I agreed to do such a thing."

Ann continued to laugh and Marui was beginning to soften up. He then started to laugh as well.

"It's not funny." Marui pouted.

* * *

As soon as Ann finished taking a bath and readying everything for school, she went downstairs, wearing the uniform Marui gave her. She passed by Susumu, who was brushing his teeth on her way to the dining room to meet Marui.

"Nee-shan…" Susumu called out as he brushed his teeth. "Shou wake up shreally rate, Shuzu and I already fwinished eating."

Ann stopped and turned to look at him, smiling sheepishly, he told him, "You shouldn't talk when you brush your teeth, it's not really that understandable…"

"Oshay…" He said and went to the bathroom. Ann sighed and continued to walk.

- - -

"Hmm…that shirt's a bit big for you," Fuyumi told Ann, observing her as she stroked her chin. Ann let out a faint chuckle. "Bunta-kun, are you sure you don't have any other female uniform?"

"Nope." Marui, who was seated at the dining table and eating peacefully, said. "That's all I got."

"It's fine Marui-san, this is my last day here after all…" Ann said, pulling the chair near Marui and seating next to him. "It'll do."

"You're leaving already? Are you sure you don't want to stay here in Kanagawa for a few more days anymore?" Fuyumi asked, disappointed that Ann is leaving already.

Ann shook her head, "My brother is waiting for me in Tokyo and I really miss him…"

Fuyumi smiled gently and nodded. "You must really be close with each other. I can see that you really miss him, I felt that too when Bunta-kun and the twin's dad left and worked overseas."

"You should eat now, Ann. I don't want you guys to be late for school." Fuyumi said and offered more food to them. Ann smiled and gratefully accepted.

"Thank you."

* * *

Fuyumi smiled once more, Ann and Marui had finished eating and they were getting ready to leave the house. She approached them.

"Why don't you two take the twins to school? You pass by it anyway…" Fuyumi suggested innocently. Marui turned to look at his mom, completely embarrassed.

"But mom! That's too much trouble for Ann and me! And you said it yourself: We are gonna be late." Marui said, facing the twins who were whistling innocently at the side. Fuyumi smiled again. Ann blinked, then smiled as well.

"That would be fun!" Ann said and agreed. The twins hoorayed and cleaved to Ann. Marui sighed in agreement.

"Fine."

The happy party of four walked happily out of the house. Susumu and Suzu walked with Ann as they held her hands. Marui stood at the back, grumbling about the twins, his eyes closed and his bag carried over his shoulders. Ann looked up to him and beamed.

"Marui-sempai, what's wrong?" Ann asked, stopping from walking and looking at him. The twins did the same, and looked at him as well.

"Nothing." He muttered and put his right hand on his pocket.

"Ne, nee-chan!" Susumu tugged Ann's skirt, "We have a big castle on school! Wanna see it later?"

"Really?" Ann smiled and turned to him. "I'd love to, but I can't. I have to leave soon."

"Mou, can't you just stay?" Suzu asked and pouted. Ann shook her head.

"I'm sorry. But I'll promise to visit again." Ann told him and patted his head. "You see, I have a special mission in Tokyo were I have to defeat the super Mafia boss!"

The twin's eyes sparkled, "Really?!" They asked in unison. Ann nodded and bent down and whispered to them,

"Really." Ann turned to serious mode and put her index finger on her lips, as if signaling the twins that the information she's about to give is top secret. "They're preparing the most destructive bomb in the whole world on their base and I have to destroy it before anything bad happens."

"Soo cool!" The twins cheered. "We'll come with you! We want to fight evil too!"

Marui snorted. Noticing this, Ann stood up and turned to face him and said, "As if you could do anything better than stand there and listen."

"Hey, I fight evil too," Marui defended. The twins turned to him and listened to his story. He began all too proudly, "I fought the most powerful trickster on the whole world, Niou Masaharu and crushed him."

This time, Ann was the one to snort. "He made you wear a skirt. You crushed him all right. General onii-chan won…Sure."

The twins laughed and gave Ann a high-five. Marui gulped and blushed.

"I was a first year!" Marui defended, glaring at Ann. "I'm an idiot back then!"

"Yeah and I'm your trouble making girlfriend." Ann shrugged and continued on walking. The twins followed her as Marui grumbled and chivied as well.

"I want a trouble making girlfriend too!" Suzu suddenly shouted. Susumu nodded in agreement. "It's unfair! Onii-chan has one but we don't!"

Ann smiled sheepishly at the two; "Onii-chan could always share."

"What? I'm not sharing you with anyone." Marui crossed his arms and looked the opposite direction. He paused…and blinked. Something wasn't right. Oh no.

"Wait! I didn't mean that! I was just—I mean…" His voice slowly faded as he noticed Ann talking to the twins and not even facing him.

"Hmm? What was that you said, Marui-sempai?" Ann turned to him after a few second, looking innocently at him. Marui blushed and shook his head.

"Nothing."

Marui sighed in relief and continued to walk too. Good thing she didn't hear or else it would be a serious problem for him. And good thing Niou wasn't here to witness or hear what he just said and start saying 'puri' or 'interesting'. That annoyed him, really. Good…good.

Suzu smirked as he held Ann's hand. _Interesting…_

* * *

"Now, you two be good in school, okay?" Ann said and patted both boys' head. "Don't cause any trouble for anyone, ne?"

"Only if you promise us you'll defeat the evil Mafia!" The twins told her. Ann nodded.

"Of course."

"We'll see you then," Ann said and bid goodbye, and was followed by Marui.

"Haha, you know what, sempai? I just felt like a mom right now…" Ann scratched her head repeatedly, looking embarrassed. Marui smiled. "And it's like you're the dad."

Marui's faced flushed. Did he just think of him as her husband? "Umm…I'm not sure if—"

Suzu had called out to him, waving his hands high up in the air.

"Onii-chan!" Suzu shouted to Marui. Suzu rushed to him and pulled him down, whispering to his older brother's ear, "Niou-nii called last night, he wanted us to give a message to you from him. He said: Cameras are everywhere, everything can be seen and heard…puri."

Marui's eyes got wider as every single word sank into his mind. He then turned to look at the other twin, Susumu, who was holding a small video cam on his small hands. The twins gave him identical sly grins.

Everything can be seen and heard…

A trickster grinning madly flashed on Marui's mind. Marui froze on where he was standing. Everything can be seen, from the teaming up against the twins, Ann wearing his shirt, cheek pinching, teaching Ann how to paint…Everything had been seen. And he was absolutely sure that what the twins were saying was true, only Niou was able to do that to his brothers. He made them his pawns. The devil's pawns.

Everything can be heard, '_Yeah, will you live here forever, my trouble making girlfriend?'_ _'Can't you stay a little longer?' 'That's okay. It's fun to listen to you anyway.' 'What? I'm not sharing you with anyone'_

A look of utter horror flashed Marui's face and he immediately ran to Ann, dragging her away from the two devils-in-training before they catch his horrified face on camera. The _couple _disappeared from the twin's sight immediately. They smirked and crossed their arms as they watched the two go. It was fun messing with their superior, General onii-chan. Pawns of the devil indeed.

* * *

They huffed as they entered the school, both tired from running away from the twins. Marui can feel the sweat on his back, and so did Ann. Ann pouted, obviously chaffed at her sempai who dragged her all the way to school without any mercy. Though it was only a walking distance from the twin's school, it was still far. Marui repeatedly apologized to her, giving her Niou as the reason for all the trouble.

Well, speak of the devil…Niou and Jackal approached them, giving knowing looks at each other.

"So…How was our little stay at the Marui residence, Ann-chan?" Niou asked innocently. Jackal snorted.

"It was fine," Ann simply said and shrugged. "The rain didn't stop till dawn as Marui-san has guessed so I had to stay there."

The other three sweatdropped. Does this girl even know how to blush? That was what Niou was expecting anyway…

"Oh." Niou grunted and turned to Marui, he smirked. He'd sure get a good reaction from his _best friend_.

"So, did you take good care of little Ann-chan?"

As expected, Marui's face turned beat red. Niou and Jackal laughed. This was too amusing. Niou turned to Ann once more and noticed the uniform she was wearing. "Heey…I know that uniform…" He mused.

Marui got alert. "Ann don't—"

"Oh, this? It's Marui-sempai's." Ann said nonchalantly as she looked at her uniform. Niou's smile grew wider. "It's the uniform you gave him."

Marui was crestfallen. "…Say it."

"Ahh! That uniform!" Niou exclaimed. "That's the one we used on Souta-kun!"

Ann raised her brows, "Souta? You mean Akiyama Souta sensei? You mean our Arts teacher? He's the guy who fell in love with Marui-sempai?!"

Niou started to laugh hysterically. Marui blushed. "Haha! I can remember Souta's face when he found out that our little tensai here was a guy! He even gave him flowers! That pedophile…Ha! I heard he still likes you, Marui!"

"Will you stop it already?! That was in first year. Jeez that's why you two never got along, you always bring that subject back." Marui glared at the laughing trickster.

Ann began to laugh as well. Marui pouted. All of them started to laugh and the other students passing by threw them odd looks.

"So that's why sempai didn't want to join! He'd see that teacher again! Now I understand!" Ann said as she continued to giggle. Marui pouted even more.

"It's not that! I just wasn't confident to join the contest!" Marui shouted, it made the three laugh even more at his defensiveness.

"Sure…" All three of them grunted.

"No fair, it's three against one…I need Akaya, he suffers your treatments as well." Marui frowned. Ann put up a thoughtful look on her face.

"Speaking of that guy, where is he?" Ann asked. Niou and Jackal stopped laughing and faced her a little bit too serious. Ann blinked confusedly.

"Well…we saw him a while ago…" Jackal started. "…With a girl."

"The guy didn't even bother to talk to us, he was too busy talking to that girl of his…" Niou continued as he scratched his head. "He totally ignored us."

"Oh…with a girl, huh." Ann's smile faltered and she frowned a bit. The three boys noticed this but pretended not to when Ann put up a cheery face again, trying to stop herself from frowning by giving them a fake laugh. The jaunty atmosphere turned a bit sad when Ann faked a laugh.

"Well then, screw him." She said coldly, upset that Kirihara ignored his friends for some girl.

**- - -**

**_On next chapter…_**

"Hah, he must be that happy that a girl clings around him to ignore sempais…" Ann said coolly, crossing her arms as she spoke. Marui stared at her blankly, she had faked another laugh. "But…I never thought he was like that…"

"Ha, and I had this heavy feeling on my chest when I saw her cling to him and I don't like that feeling…" Ann muttered as tears started rolling down her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm feeling this way…It's like…"

Marui did nothing but hold Ann tight and hug her, letting her lean on him. He wiped Ann's tears off her face and pulled something out of his pocket. She sniffed once. Marui removed the hair that was covering Ann's face with the heart-shaped clip he had just added a ribbon to. She sniffed twice. He hushed her.

"It's like…It's like I'm jealous…"

* * *

**A/N:** Yo! Sorry for the late update! (Does anyone even care?) Well Anyway, if you still haven't voted on the polls and care about how this story will end, then please do vote! Do you want Ann-chan to be with sweet emo **Marui-kun** or smexy bastard **Aka-chan**? Or maybe with evil smirky Niou? Haha, kidding…And **no** **both** options, for those who are wishing! (Though I do want her to end up with both T.(T) XP Final pairing shall be revealed on the next chapter! XD


	17. Those Who Fell in Love with Her Smile

**Disclaimer**: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi and I'm just a poor girl who writes poor stories. T-T

**A/N:** I'm sorry but I won't reveal the pair in this chapter. Even I am confused. I can't bring myself to choose from KiriAn and MaruAn so yeah…sorry. But please do enjoy this chapter! I hope you do. And thank you to those who reviewed on the past chapters, I really appreciate it. Now that this story is close to ending, will you still make me happy and review? XD

* * *

"Well…we saw him a while ago…" Jackal started. "…With a girl."

"The boy didn't even bother to talk to us, he was too busy with that girl of his…" Niou continued as he scratched his head. "He totally ignored us."

"Oh…with a girl, huh." Ann's smile faltered and she frowned a bit. The three boys noticed this but pretended not to when Ann put up a cheery face again, trying to stop herself from frowning by giving them a fake laugh. The jaunty atmosphere turned a bit sad when Ann faked a laugh.

"Well then, screw him." She said coldly, upset that Kirihara ignored his friends for some girl. She then walked away, leaving the three boys behind. Marui tried to follow her; she waved her hands at him as if signaling that she wants to be alone.

The three sighed.

"I wonder what's up with her..." Jackal trailed off. Niou closed his eyes. "…And also Akaya."

"Who knows?" Niou said, burying his hands on his pockets. "She might actually be jealous…"

Marui had nothing to say, he just stood there, watching Ann as she left them behind.

'_The nerve of that guy!' _Ann thought darkly as she walked on the halls quietly. _'How could he ignore Niou-sempai and Jackal-sempai?! I mean, it IS Niou-sempai…How could he? And for some girl?'_

"Ann-chan?" a female voice called out, which successfully disturbed her thinking. Ann turned to look at the direction where the voice came from and found her classmate Misaki, peeking at one of the doors of the classrooms.

"What are you doing out there?" Misaki asked, looking at Ann with a puzzled face. "Classes are about to start, you know."

"Is that so?" Ann asked.

"Yeah, come on!" Misaki said and Ann followed her inside the room. "Ne, Ann-chan, it's a special day today as well! For second years, you get to tour and bring a re—"

"I'm sorry Misaki-san, but I have to go." Ann said as soon as she saw Kirihara on the room…with the said girl. She turned to leave the room and Misaki, who wasn't finished explaining the events for the day. Kirihara eyed Ann leave the room, not bothering to stand up and stop her.

Ann wandered around the whole school; she passed by the different booths that were displayed at the garden. She entered the school building again and went upstairs and ended up in the rooftop. She sat near the edge, where she can see what was happening down. She stared uncaringly at the students who walked out of the school buildings, preparing for the school's main festival.

She then noticed someone familiar coming out of the school building. It was Kirihara and the girl was embracing his arm. Though it was far from her, she could see clearly what Kirihara and that girl was doing. Ann sighed and hugged her knees. She watched Kirihara tour the girl around the different booths the students made. She frowned and played with her hair, twirling it apathetically. She felt something hard clipped on her hair, it was the heart-shaped clip Kirihara gave her. She actually wore it today.

She pulled it off her hair and looked at it. Kirihara told her that it was especially for her and he even mentioned that it was expensive. Who would've thought that that guy actually cared for how she looked like? The clip was pretty, Ann thought. Somehow it reminded her of her old—

"I knew you'd be here."

Ann hastily stood up and turned around to the owner of the voice, aware of whom it was. She clenched the clip and hid her hands behind her back.

"Ma-Marui-sempai!" Ann stammered as the other looked at her, a bit worriedly.

The person heaved a sigh as he eyed what she was hiding in her hands. He shrugged then spoke, "What are you doing here all alone? I thought you were in class…"

"Nothing much." She replied and looked away. "I just wanted to see what the booths looked like from up here." She excused.

"It would be better to see it up close…wanna go down with me and explore them?" Marui offered. Ann was a bit hesitant for a moment, not sure if she really wanted to go down. She then took a peek below once more, holding the metal railings that fenced the place. She spotted Kirihara again, with the girl. She frowned. She didn't want to see Kirihara right now, and she didn't really know why. She turned to Marui and declined.

"I'm not really in the mood to explore booths, sempai," She said, tightening her grip on the clip that was in her hands. "Plus, Kirihara is there. I don't really want to see and talk to him right now. And I might bother his moment with his girl."

"But Ann…" Marui muttered as Ann laughed at the thought of her disturbing Kirihara's _date_.

"Ha, he must be that happy that a girl clings around him to ignore sempais…" Ann said coolly as she crossed her arms. Marui stared at her blankly, she had faked another laugh. He didn't want to see Ann faking laughs, it just wasn't right. He watched Ann as she continued speaking, her voice getting vague. "But…I never thought he was like that…"

"And you know what? I had this heavy feeling on my chest when I saw that girl cling in his arm… and I don't like this feeling…" Ann's voice trailed off as tears began rolling down her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm feeling this…It's like…"

Marui immediately ran towards her and hugged Ann tight, letting her lean on his chest and dropping what he was holding. He then wiped Ann tears off her face and pulled something from his pocket. She sniffed once, tightening her grip on the clip even more. Marui brushed the hair off her face and fastened it with the clip he took out from his pocket. She sniffed twice, finally letting go of the clip that she held and letting it on the ground. He hushed her.

"It's like…I'm jealous…"

They stayed like that for a few more minutes until Ann pulled away. She then gave him an apologetic smile, because of the fact that she wetted his shirt with her tears. Marui shook his head and patted hers, saying that's it's all right.

"I wanna go home." Ann suddenly told him.

"But…" Marui tried to protest and picked up what he dropped a while ago.

"Alone." She said wiped her tears off started to walk away from him. Marui suddenly took hold of her wrists. She turned around to look at him, he was handing her what he dropped…the two portraits…

"Your painting and my painting…Just keep it safe till we see each other again." Marui said as he gave her a comforting smile. She nodded and gratefully accepted.

"At first, I didn't really know if I would fit here in Rikkai…" She muttered as she looked at the painting she made last night. "Then again, you guys made me feel really happy that I accepted our principal's invitation to study here. I got to meet great friends like Niou-sempai and Jackal-sempai; I had a caring brother like Yukimura-san, Yagyuu-sempai, Sanada-san and Yanagi-san were all very amusing and entertaining."

She smiled at the painting and Marui continued to listen to her. "And most of all, though it may probably not seem like it, Kirihara-kun and Marui-sempai were the greatest reason why I enjoyed my stay. You guys were the best friends I ever had." She then started to giggle. "And I even got to the point that I didn't want to leave. You guys are really the best."

"Ann…" Marui managed to say. He was really surprised to hear that from her. Ann gave her a sunny smile. Marui couldn't help but give her a bright smile as well. "It's good to see that again…Your genuine smile."

Ann blinked. "What is sempai talking about?" She raised brows on him. Marui shook his head and gave her a peace sign.

"Ne-ver-mind!" Marui said and winked at her. "So, does Ann-chan want the great tensai to accompany her?"

"Nope." Ann simply said and shook her head. "I don't want to be all mushy on the train station when I leave."

"Mou…" Marui pouted, Ann laughed. "If you say so…"

"Don't worry…we'll see each other again soon enough!" She said and suddenly left after giving him one last cheery smile.

"Fine." Marui grunted as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. After he was sure that Ann was gone, he opened his eyes and said, "I was talking about the smile I fell in love with…"

* * *

Ann hastily ran out of the school and went to Yukimura's house. She passed by almost all of the regulars on her way out. Sanada and Yukimura were walking together on the halls talking to each other, and she secretly waved goodbye at them. Yagyuu was together with Niou and Jackal, who were playing darts at one booth. She somewhat saw Niou strangling the student beside him, she giggled. Yanagi was also around the booths, checking if everything was in place, and lastly Kirihara, he was also roaming around the booth with the girl, Ann shrugged and ignored him and continued running.

* * *

She reached Yukimura's house and entered. Good thing Yukimura gave her a spare key, or else she would really have trouble. She immediately went upstairs and packed all of her things. Why was she hurrying up to leave? She didn't really know the main reason but she was sure that one of them was because she missed her brother so.

She sat down on the floor and arranged her clothes, books and her other stuff, in order. After finishing, she spotted her small box. That certain blue-colored box that was filled with the most important things in her life. She opened it and smiled. The ribbon, the pictures and all of her other trinkets were in there. She blinked. There was something else in there, something new…it was a picture…no, pictures. She took them out of the box and looked at it.

One of the pictures was from the time she and Kirihara were stuck on the classroom. _"How did they get a picture of that?"_ Ann thought, she shrugged (probably her conclusion was Niou) and continued looking at the other pictures. There were lots of them! From each event! The baking, the painting…Ann stopped at the next picture. It was Niou and Jackal the time that they were outside of the second year's room. She giggled, she remembered that she thought that Niou was a blue bush and Jackal was a basketball. She smiled and continued. Another one was the time where they went into the abandoned school building. There was a picture of a girl in the mirror, smiling.

"So, that was true?" Ann asked no one in particular. Then she saw a picture of her and Kirihara, the time they were alone. She sighed and continued. She then noticed that there was a small scroll inside the box. She pulled the string that sealed it and opened it carefully.

It was a letter from the regulars. On top, a lettering of Rikkai dai can be seen. She guessed it was Sanada's penmanship, since Yukimura mentioned to her that Sanada was into calligraphy in one of their chats before. Different handwritings followed. She read all of it slowly.

_Oi, don't forget what the great trickster has taught you, Ann-chan. Being manipulative is the best way to make everyone follow you, ne? XD ,_from the ever great trickster, Niou the great.

"He just said great two times," Ann commented. "That's how much he loves himself, huh."

_Take care of yourself and be nice, okay? And if you'd like, we'd take you to the arcade again so you could beat Akaya again and again. You're awesome at playing arcades. –_Jackal_-_

_Ann-san, please don't listen to what Masaharu teaches you. It will bring you down. Please don't. And make sure you don't hang around with him, he'll poison your mind._ -Signed Yagyuu-

"…"

_There's 76.52 percent that you know this already but I will still inform you that Akaya really likes you. I may not have much to say for there are only 12.6 percent of your stay here that I've hung around you but please don't be reckless on anything. Akaya will bother me every single minute if anything unpleasant happens to you. Please do be careful. (Especially when with Niou.) –Yanagi-_

_Yanagi has a grudge on me!_ This sentenced was written beside Yanagi's message, which she guessed was from Niou.She sweatdropped.

_Tarundoru. –Sanada_

_Ann-chan, remember that all of us we'll be here whenever you need us. We'll be the ones to make you happy whenever you're sad. Always remember that we'll be your friends. And I will always be your big brother that will always take care of you. Just a simple call and we'll be beside you in a minute. Take care of yourself and ta-run-do-ru! –Yukimura nii-san _

"Yukimura-san…" Ann smiled and eyed Yukimura's message. There was also a doodle beside it. She didn't really know what it was (mainly because it is Yukimura who drew it) but she really appreciated what Yukimura wrote, and that's all she needed.

_Hey…Ann-chan. I'm really happy that you came here, I know all of us are but…um…just, you know what I mean. And it was really fun hanging out with you. Umm…and I like the cake you made! It was really good._

Ann paused for a minute, the handwriting changed and it now looked a bit like Niou's trying to copy the real handwriting. She continued reading.

_What I'm trying to say is, dear Ann-chan, is that I really like you and I'll never forget you! XD Hey, I didn't mean that and it's obviously Niou's ugly handwriting. Yes, I didn't mean that because what I was actually going to say is that I really love you! (_That was obviously from Niou) _Hey, Ann I'm going to stop this letter before Niou ruins it more. They're irritating. –The great tensai Marui_

_P.s. This is Niou speaking (I secretly got this from them XD) I just want to let you know that…Isn't it weird that Bun-chan didn't erase what I wrote if it wasn't really true? I mean, he could if he wanted to, we won't stop him anyway…But he just didn't! XDD He'll miss you, I know it! Bye then Ann-chan! I hope that boggles your mind! _

"It did boggle my mind." Ann muttered and began to snort. "Niou-sempai is confusing...and he really likes using emoticons."

There was one last paragraph, written down below. She scanned it and guessed it was Kirihara's…but she was wrong. It was from all of the seven who wrote before. She began to read it.

_We somehow guessed that you don't want us to accompany you leave Kanagawa so we decided to give you this scroll instead and some pictures Niou took (though most of us don't know how he took it.) And we are sure you have noticed that there is no personal letter from Kirihara. He doesn't know about this if you're wondering. We are sure that he'll want to tell you what he wants to personally. :D We'll miss you Ann! _

There was a small scribble next to Ann that read _especially Marui._ And another scribble, probably from Marui to defend himself, _And Akaya._

And the final one…_We can read minds…We are Rikkai. XD Kidding! _

Silence propagated the room...not until Ann started to laugh. Tears again started falling down her eyes. Not of sadness but of sheer amusement.

"Those saps!" Ann shouted as she continued to laugh harder. "I'm soo gonna miss those guys!" Ann exclaimed. "Mou, because of this letter, I somehow don't want to leave."

"I'll really miss them." She smiled once more and went out of the room with her things packed up inside her bag.

* * *

She reached the station shortly after a few minutes. She paused and scanned the place. She was here a week ago, with Niou helping her. Now, she's here again, but this time, she's leaving. She was finally leaving Rikkai. She was finally leaving her friends and Marui, she was finally leaving—

"Kirihara…"

"Oi…" The male voice came from Kirihara himself, who was leaning on a shaft. He then approached her.

"Who told you that you can leave just like that?" Kirihara said and filliped Ann's forehead, causing her to wince and glare at him. She then looked away.

"What are you doing here?" Ann snapped. Kirihara blinked, what's she so angry about?

"So what if I'm here? Can you do anything about it?" Kirihara snapped back. "And what are you so angry about? It's like I did anything."

Ann scowled. "As a matter of fact, you did do something. You ignored sempais."

"What are you talking about?" Kirihara raised brows on her. She crossed her arms. "I didn't do anything like that."

"Look…" Ann said and faced him seriously. "Why don't you go back to that girl of yours and flirt like there's no tomorrow?"

"Girlfriend?" Kirihara asked. "What girlfriend?"

"Oh please, Kirihara. Don't play dumb. That girl who clings around you, that. Your girlfriend."

"You mean Shiori?"

"Whatever. Her." Ann grunted and looked away.

"Heeeyyy…" Kirihara inspected her from head to toe.

"What?" She snapped again.

"That's jealousy." Kirihara grinned widely. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Me? Please…I'm not jealous." Ann said and tried to hide the blush that was creeping out of her face.

"Bwahahahaha!! You are jealous!" Kirihara started to laugh. "I can't believe it! This girl just blushed! She just blushed! Because she was jealous!"

"Will you shut the hell up?! I am not jealous!" Ann yelled at him and punched him.

"See? You ARE jealous!" Kirihara repeated and winced a bit because of her punch.

"Tone down, will you? Everybody's looking at us!" Ann grumbled. "So what if I'm jealous?"

Kirihara was laughing hysterically. "Idiot! Shiori is my cousin! She's there because of the event today and she was meeting up with his guy that studies in Rikkai too!"

Ann froze. So…This Shiori was his cousin.

Oh.

They weren't romantically related…

Oh.

And she was jealous of her…

Oh.

"Maybe I should really start reading the bulletin boards in school…" Ann muttered as her head began to ache.

"Idiot." Kirihara repeated for the umpteenth time, calling out to her. "Here."

Kirihara got her hand and placed the clip on it as he said, "You always lose things. Che and after I told you to take care of it."

"A-ah…" Ann stared at the clip Kirihara gave her…again. She then began to laugh.

"You're insane." Kirihara concluded. Ann pinched his nose.

"What's wrong with you, woman?!" Kirihara shouted. Ann giggled, then smiled gently at him.

"I'll really miss you…Akaya." She muttered and hugged him for a minute or two. Kirihara blushed. Did she just call him by his first name and did she just hug him? It's the first time she did…

"Um…Eh." Kirihara paused when Ann released him and opened one of her bags and took out a small portrait from it. She handed it to Kirihara.

"It's not that much, but here." She said and Kirihara impulsively got it. "I drew that when I was with Marui-sempai."

"What? When were you with Marui-sempai?! Why didn't I know about this?!" Kirihara asked again and again.

Ann giggled. "Hi-mit-su!" She winked then gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. "Now, I killed YOUR brain!"

"Eeeeeeeehhh??"

"My train's leaving, I have to go! Bye Akaya!" With that, she ran off.

"She just kissed me!" Kirihara shouted and pointed at her. The other people on the station eyed Kirihara suspiciously. "She's mocking me!"

"Nice job, lover boy…" Jackal suddenly appeared and spoke, patting his kouhai's head.

"Ahh…Young love. Good times. Goood times…" Niou muttered from behind him.

"Young love?" Marui raised brows on him. "Heck, he's only a year younger than us!"

"My, my…Isn't someone jealous?" Niou eyed Marui. Marui backed away from the trickster.

"Yeah, Jackal is pretty jealous of Akaya!" Marui defended. Jackal sweatdropped and gave them a face of _'why me?'_

"Akaya-kun looks really happy, na Sanada?" Yukimura smiled.

"Hn." Sanada grunted.

"Yes, there is 145.89 percent that he is happy that Ann-san kissed him." Yanagi informed, scribbling on his dear notebook. "And that's beyond possibilities."

"Masaharu, stop teasing Marui." Yagyuu told Niou, who kept on giving snide comments about Marui.

Since when did all of them get there?

"She—she just kissed me!" Kirihara wailed.

"Pfft. Don't pretend that this is the first time, idiot." Niou looked at Kirihara.

"She—she kissed me!" Kirihara repeated, still flabbergasted at what Ann did. "That girl that I thought had the most prettiest smile kissed me!"

"Yeah, yeah…We know that." Marui grumbled. "Congratulations."

"Jeeeaaallloouus…" Niou and Jackal said. Marui gulped and defended himself once more.

"Hey, Jackal," Niou whispered to Jackal's ear. "I think Marui meant that he already knows that Ann has the most prettiest smile!"

"Masaharu, you don't need 'most' when you say prettiest." Yagyuu told him. Jackal and Niou could only snort. "It kind of doubles it."

"That's the point." Niou grinned.

"Akaya, next time, be sure to tell us when a relative comes so that we'll avoid mishaps like this." Yagyuu told Kirihara. "We wouldn't have known if we didn't ask Shiori-san herself."

"Sorry." Kirihara apologized. "That girl's just too weird and rabid for you guys to meet her so I tried avoiding you guys."

"That's okay, Akaya!" Yukimura beamed. "Now, did you tell Ann-chan what you feel?"

"…I…forgot." Kirihara mumbled. "Oh no!"

"Hey, what's that?" Jackal suddenly asked, looking at the painting Kirihara was holding. Every regular turned to look and listen.

"Oh this? It was from her." Kirihara told them. "She gave it to me."

Niou gave Marui a knowing smile (or rather, smirk). Marui shrugged. Kirihara handed it to Yukimura for him to see.

The buchou smiled.

"Ne, I think this would look good on our clubroom, don't you think?" He said and looked at the painting. It was the painting of the whole team with Ann that she made. All of them agreed.

"Yeah."

* * *

_**Special Omake and Epilogue preview**_

"I just received a call from Ann yesterday!" Niou happily informed the regulars. All of them stopped from practicing and approached the trickster.

"She wants to go to the new carnival on Tokyo with us this Saturday!"

"Really?" Both Kirihara and Marui exclaimed, both were having excited expressions on their faces.

"It's been quite long since we last saw her." Kirihara said.

"It was just last week." Jackal informed the boy.

"That's long enough!"

* * *

**himitsu- **_secret_

**tarundoru- **_Sanada's line, which means no slacking off. I think...  
_

**A/n: **So…how was it? Please do tell me what you think of this chapter. The next one will probably be the last, I think. Please review! Tell me what you think of this one. XD And I told you the pair will be revealed this chap, right? I'm sorry but not yet. Gomen! (This A/n is actually almost the same as the first one XD)


	18. Big News for the King of Arcades

**Title: **Of Clips and Ribbons

**Disclaimer:** Let's see…:rummages pockets: a button, 32 cents, a stolen ribbon, a dental floss and a cotton ball…err, no Prince of Tennis so, no.

**Note: **Please read A/N at end XDD

**Warnings:** Ultra long crack ending, probably typos? Dunno, lots of other schools, Gakuto

**A/N: **To make up for the super late update, I bring you long, fun chapter! Last chap guys, enjoy! Well, If they have one-hour specials, I have mine too. Special chapter, the longest, the wackiest, one of the craziest! Enjoy my lameness, everyone! XD

Now, On to the final chapter!

* * *

_**Chapter 18: Big News for the King of Arcades**_

* * *

After Ann Tachibana left Rikkai, things started to turn back to normal. The week full of activities also ended and things became boring again…especially for Niou, that is. He had no more pranks to pull, he had no one to tease and his partner in crime was gone. Most of them got bored actually, they must've gotten used to Ann being there. Even though her stay was only for a week, it felt like they were all friends since they were kids.

Niou lazily got up from his bed to pick up his phone, which was ringing a while ago. He pressed the button and answered it. His eyes widened when he heard the voice.

"_Niou-sempai!"_ The voice happily greeted him.

"Ann?" Niou asked anxiously, smiling as he did so. He heard a jaunty 'yes' on the other end of the line. "So, how are you there?"

"_I'm doing fine, sempai."_ She answered. Niou almost felt the happy aura Ann was emitting. _"How about you guys?"_

Niou smirked and lay down on the bed. "Everything's fine here too. Well maybe except for Akaya, who has been a little grumpy lately and Marui who can't concentrate on playing tennis. Perfectly fine."

"_Is that so?"_ Ann said. She paused for a minute then talked again, _"Sempai, listen."_

Niou sat up and raised a brow. "Eh?"

"_Well, there's this new amusement park built here in Tokyo and the grand opening is this Saturday. I was wondering if you guys would like to come?"_ She told him. A wide smirk appeared on Niou's face.

"Hmm…" He pretended to think. "I guess it would be fun. Those two would love to see you again."

"_Really?" _

"Yup."

"_Then I'll be waiting for you guys right there? Maybe Saturday evening would be fine?"_ Ann exclaimed.

"Yup!" Niou answered happily.

"I'll see you then sempai!" She happily told him and hung the phone.

"Puri." Niou grinned evilly. Maybe this'd be his one last prank on them. _Interesting. _"Let's start planning."

* * *

_**The next day…**_

Niou happily skipped inside the tennis courts, where the Rikkai regulars were having tennis matches. An _innocent_ grin was plastered on his face as he neared them. He was really sure that he wasn't gonna be ignored since the big news is about their little Ann-chan.

"I just receive a call from Ann yesterday!" He happily informed the regulars. All of those present turned to him.

"She wants to go to the new carnival on Tokyo with us this Saturday!" He said in a sing song voice.

Marui, who was still playing a game against a team member, wasn't able to hit the serve his opponent did. Whilst Kirihara dropped his racket and gawked at him.

"Really?" Both exclaimed in unison, obviously having excited expressions on their faces.

"Haaai!" Niou answered sweetly. He was obviously enjoying their excitement.

Kirihara arrogantly approached the trickster and said, "That girl? Heeeh, it's been long since I last saw her."

"Akaya."

"And I'm sure that she misses the one she kissed before she left!" He added, giving emphasis on the kiss part. Niou could hear a faint snort coming from Marui.

"Akaya."

"She misses me that much huh?" He smirked and continued. "Well, I can't really blame her. It's been really long since we last saw each other anyway."

"Akaya," Jackal finally caught his attention. "It had been only a week since you last saw each other."

"That's long enough!" He told them.

"Actually…" Niou cut in. "I need to change what I said. She actually wanted me to date her. Just the two of us, in the happy world of amusement rides."

"What?!" Kirihara and Marui shouted, catching the attention of Yukimura and Yanagi, who were watching Sanada's game nearby.

"That's impossible." Marui told him. "She won't like a stupid trickster for a date."

"_Jelousy: check." _Niou noted in his mind.

"Since when have you taken interest on that stupid woman?! She's too good for you, sempai."

"_Over jealousy…uh, check." _ Niou sweatdropped and then smirked. "Fine, don't believe me then. I'm going with Ann-chan this Saturday evening and we'll have romantic fun on the carnival."

He could see them fuming…and he enjoyed it.

"What's this I'm hearing? Niou going on a date with Ann-chan?" Yukimura, together with Yanagi approached the group.

"Yeah, buchou." Niou smirked and Yukimura knew what that meant. "I'm going on a date with Ann-chan!"

Yukimura tugged Yanagi, as if signaling him to join in the fun of taunting the two boys.

"Ahh yes." Yanagi said and opened his notebook. "There's 98.7685 percent that Ann-san will fall in love with Niou after their date. And there's 54.37 percent that they will get married at the—"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Kirihara cut in and covered his ears.

Yukimura smiled and thought of an idea. "Maybe I should ask Genichirou out on the carnival as well."

"I would be glad to go." Sanada suddenly appeared behind Yukimura.

"Really?" Yukimura asked and Sanada blushed as he nodded.

"Masaharu." Yagyuu called out to his friend. "Akaya is fuming. What did you do now?"

"Oh nothing." Niou shrugged. "I just told them that I'll be going on a date with Ann-chan this Saturday!"

"Saturday? But that's tomorrow." Yagyuu said. Niou nodded.

"I'm going." Marui suddenly said. "…With you guys."

"Oh? And who told you that you can?" Niou said all too knowingly. Marui twitched.

"Then I'm going on a date with Akaya." Marui concluded. Kirihara's jaws dropped. "Right, Akaya?"

"What? No way! I'm not going to—" Kirihara paused as Marui whispered something to him.

"Listen, do you want Ann to fall in love with this sick bastard? I'm not going to let that happen." Marui told him. "Plus, if we tag along, we get to see her again, right?"

"Right! Then let's do it!" Kirihara finally agreed and turned to his sempais with a determined look on his face. "Ohohohoho! Sempai and I are going on a date tomorrow!"

"I never knew that they'd really fall for it." Jackal rubbed his temples. "They are nothing but pure idiots."

"Puri." Niou grinned. "That's why they're on our team, right?"

* * *

The next day happened as Niou expected. Well maybe not really because when he stepped out of their house, he saw a red bush and a black seaweed hiding behind another bush. He actually expected them to be at Tokyo already. Such idiots can be really amusing, especially when they're jealous.

"I wonder if I should ride the tunnel of love with Ann-chan?" Niou said out loud. The two boys twitched. "Or maybe I should hug her when we ride the roller coaster!"

"That's it! Sempai is going do—" Marui put gum on Kirihara's mouth before he can even continue.

"Quiet. He's luring us out." Marui blew his gum. "Chew on that, it'll ease your anger."

"Then does sempai chew gum so that he'd always be calm?" Kirihara asked. Marui nodded. Kirihara slumped and pouted…and chewed on the gum harder.

"Then again, maybe I should just kiss Ann-chan on the lips." Niou concluded, his voice getting louder.

Marui twitched, "Okay, that stupid bastard trickster Niou is going down!" Marui shouted and stood up. Kirihara caught his wrist before he can even near the _great_ Niou.

"I thought you told me that we should be calm?" Kirihara whined. Marui kicked the grass and spat out his gum and got a new one. He sat down as he crossed his arms and chewed on it.

"Wait! He's already gone!" Marui hastily stood up. They quickly ran out of where they were hiding and ran towards the train station. Idiots.

They hadn't noticed that Niou was still there, leaning against the wall.

"Why would I go so early? It's only three p.m. plus, Ann said that the carnival doesn't open till six." He smirked. "Weren't they even listening to me?"

* * *

_**Tokyo…an hour later…**_

"We've been fooled." Marui sighed. They were already in front of the carnival, though no one was there…just yet.

"Sempaii! What are we supposed to do now?" Kirihara complained. Marui sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall.

"This place doesn't open till evening. We'll have to wait." Marui told him.

"But, sempai! It's only four in the afternoon!" Kirihara whined and sat down beside him.

"I pretty much know that, you idiot."

"Are? Rikkai Dai?" A voice said. Both looked up and found two boys looking at them. "Shishido-san, aren't they from Rikkai Dai?"

"Whatever, let's go Choutarou." The other one told him.

"But—"

"Ahh…Hyotei, isn't it?" Kirihara pointed at the one known as Choutarou. Choutarou smiled and nodded.

Marui blew his gum again. "Great."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Shishido snapped.

"Spying." Marui randomly said.

"Eh?" Choutarou asked. "In front of an amusement park?"

"Never mind." Marui rolled his eyes. Choutarou stared at Marui, who had a grumpy look on his face. He then thought of an idea.

"Are you guys hungry? We're planning to go eat somewhere, wanna come?"

"Choutarou, they don't want to go. Come on." Shishido told his doubles partner.

"We're waiting for someone." Marui informed.

"Oh, is that so?" Choutarou said and smiled again.

"Yeah, do you know someone who has straight brown hair and has a big forehead and is very idiotic?" Kirihara asked.

Shishido thought for a moment, then spoke, "Ah, I know that person."

"Ahh, yes! We're planning to meet with that person right now, actually!" Choutarou remembered.

"Really?" Both asked. "Then we'll come with you!"

"Hai!" Choutarou happily said as he bowed.

* * *

"Who's this?" Kirihara raised brows at the person in front of him. Marui burrowed his hands on his pockets and sighed. He knew it. Hyotei people were never meant to be trusted.

"He's the one you're looking for, right?" Choutarou asked worriedly. "Taki Haginosuke-san!"

"I don't know these guys." The guy named Taki said.

"We don't know you either." Marui said and turned to the opposite direction. "Let's go, Akaya."

"Hey, but you said straight brown hair, big forehead and idiotic right?" Shishido said. "He totally matches your descriptions. Especially the idiotic one."

"What did you say, Shishido?" Taki twitched and raised his fist up.

"We're so sorry to bother you guys." Choutarou bowed. Marui waved his hand as he walked away from them.

"We're looking for a _she_." Marui said. Choutarou blinked.

"Tachibana Ann, that is." Kirihara gave them one last look before following his sempai.

"Ahh…" Choutarou realized. _"Her."_

"Ahh, her." Shishido said. "…Who's that?"

Choutarou sighed and whispered to Shishido's ear.

"Oh…her." Shishido said. "What's her name again?"

"Tachibana Ann, Shishido-san, Tachibana Ann." Choutarou told him.

"Tachibana Ann?" Taki inquired. "Isn't she the one Atobe—"

"Hai." Choutarou said and stared at the two Rikkai people. _"Good luck with her, you two."_

"Ahh…her?" Shishido repeated. "What would they want with her?"

* * *

"We've wasted time with them." Marui sighed and slumped down on his place before. They went back to the front gate of the carnival. "Akaya, what time is it?"

"Eh? Let's see let's see..." Kirihara looked at his wristwatch. "It's already quarter to six? Then it's only a few more minutes till we see Ann!"

"Unya? Rikkai Dai?" A new voice said. "Ne, Momo…why are they here?"

The owner of the voice jumped and hugged his companion. "Are they here to visit the carnival as well, nya?"

"Sempai, please." His companion pleaded. "Get off of me."

"Nya?" The other one said and neared them. "Ne ne, aren't you Kirihara Akaya? And you're Marui Bunta?"

"Great, there's more of them." Marui rolled his eyes.

"They're Seigaku." Kirihara said, looking at the two.

"Marui-sempai? Kirihara-kun?" A new voice joined in.

"Tachibana-imouto!"

"Eh? Momoshiro-kun?" Ann raised a brow. "You guys are here as well?"

"Unya? You're that cute girl that Momo likes!" Kikumaru shouted, flashing a peace sign at her.

"Kikumaru-sempai!" Momo blushed. Ann smiled. While the other two, secretly fumed.

"Are you guys going on the carnival too?" Ann asked again. The two Seigaku regulars nodded. She then turned to Marui and Kirihara.

"Where are the others then?" She asked. Both shrugged.

"Well, Niou-sempai said that you two were going on a date so we followed…" Kirihara tried to explain.

"But it turned out that we were three hours earlier than you guys." Marui continued.

"Unya? Date? Who?" Kikumaru asked again and again.

Ann giggled. "I told him, I want all of you guys to come."

"That liar." Marui mumbled.

"Look, the carnival's already open!" Momoshiro suddenly said. They saw all of the rides light up.

"Nya? Come on! Let's go Momo!" Kikumaru dragged his kouhai inside the place, secretly hoping that they'll be one of the firsts to enter the place.

"Tachibana-imouto, are you coming along with us?" He asked. Ann shook her head.

"We're going to wait for the others." Ann said and waved at them. "See you inside, Momoshirou-kun!"

"A-ah…" Momo muttered as Kikumaru dragged him.

"So…" Ann turned to them and bent down. "How are you guys doing?"

"Fine." Marui and Kirihara both said. Marui looked away and buried his face in his hands while Kirihara talked to Ann. Ann smiled.

"Things had gotten a lot more better since you left!" Kirihara lied. "Life was at peace."

Marui kept on being silent.

"Is that so?" Ann said, not believing what he said. "Well, my life became more quiet without you too."

"But…I liked life to be fun! And being with you guys is my own definition of fun." She laughed, then hugged both of them. "I missed you guys!"

"We missed you too." Both said and hugged her back.

"My, my, you guys sure missed each other a lot didn't you?" Yukimura smiled and entered the scene, together with the other Rikkai regulars.

"Mura-buchou!" The two boys exclaimed. Ann stood up and greeted her _brother_.

"Yuki-nii." Ann smiled and hugged him. Yukimura smiled back.

"Yo!" Niou grinned from behind Yukimura. Jackal and Yagyuu nodded.

"Niou-sempai!" Ann happily exclaimed. "Jackal and Yagyuu-sempai too!"

"Nice to see you again, Ann." Jackal said.

Sanada and Yanagi had now arrived and greeted her as well.

"Sanada-san and Yanagi-san!" Ann waved at them.

"Looks like we're all here. How's about we go inside now?" Yukimura offered. All of them nodded.

"Hai!" They nodded and entered the place.

* * *

"Where do you think we should go first then?" Ann asked, scanning the huge place for amusement. All of them started thinking of the best place to go to.

"Ferris wheel is good." Marui suggested.

"Um…House of mirrors is sorta cool too." Jackal said.

"Roller coaster's first!" Niou said.

"Merry-go-round!" Kirihara happily suggested. All eyes turned to him and they became quiet.

"What?" Kirihara snapped.

"I'll go with the roller coaster idea." Marui said and ignored Kirihara. All of them nodded.

"Agreed." All of them answered.

"Let's go then!" Ann ordered.

"Stupid dumb idiotic sempais…ignoring me like this…" Kirihara grumbled. "What's wrong with the merry-go-round?"

The other three, Sanada, Yukimura and Yanagi decided to separate with the gang and have their own fun when Yukimura spotted a small booth.

"Na Sanada, I want that cactus!" Yukimura told him. "Will you get that prize for me?"

"Ye—" Sanada was cut when Yanagi spoke.

"There's 0.23 percent chance that Genichirou will be able to get you that prize, Seiichi." Yanagi said. Sanada froze.

"Is that so?" Yukimura smiled. "Will Renji get it for me then?"

"Sounds logical." Yanagi told him. "But there's only 49.67 percent that I'll be able to get it for you, considering that **they **are our opponents." Yanagi said and eyed whom he was talking about. Sanada and Yukimura turned to where the data master was looking.

"Ne Tezuka, would you get me that cactus?" A smiling boy said. His companion however, had a serious look on his face.

* * *

"So, who'll sit in front?" Ann tapped the floor with her sneakers. "Ah! I want to sit there!" She pointed the front seat and sat down.

"So…" Niou gave the two boys a sly smirk. "Who'll sit next to her?"

"There's no choice. Only the great tensai can sit next to her." Marui shrugged and went near the seat.

"Hey. That's not fair! I want to sit beside her too!" Kirihara protested. "I'm sitting next to her!"

"Who told you that I would allow that?" Marui's face turned serious. "I'm sitting next to her."

"No. I will."

"No, me."

"…Jackal-sempai." Ann whispered and covered her mouth with her hands. Jackal blinked as Ann patted the seat beside him. "Over here."

Jackal shrugged and approached the seat while the other two continued fighting.

"Oi, Akaya, Marui…" Niou said, still having the same sly smirk on his face. "Are you two gonna ride or not? Cause Ann already has a seatmate."

"What?!" Both of them stopped from fighting and turned to Ann, who was waving her hands at them. They both spotted Jackal.

"Jackal, you traitor." Marui mumbled.

"What did I do?" Jackal asked innocently. Marui rolled his eyes.

"Sempai's so unfair." Kirihara grumbled and sat down.

The two had now calmed down and sat beside each other, behind Ann and Jackal of course. Niou and Yagyuu sat beside each other as well.

The ride slowly started moving up and everyone was getting excited…except for one.

"Jackal-sempai? What's wrong?" Ann asked worriedly.

"Ah." Jackal muttered. "It's just that I'm sort of afraid of heights. Ann gave him a comforting smile.

"It'll be fun, sempai. Don't worry!" Ann comforted him and patted his head, which successfully earned him death glares from Kirihara and Marui.

"You'll be fine Jackal." Marui nonchalantly told his doubles partner, poking him on the head.

"Yeah, sempai! You don't have to worry!" Kirihara shouted.

The ride started going down, and they all shouted in excitement.

"See? I told you it'd be okay, sempai!" Ann shouted while the ride moved.

"Jackal!" Niou called out from behind Marui and Kirihara. "Hug her! Hug her!"

The two boys in front of him quickly turned to him and gave him a glare.

"Why would I do that?" Jackal asked aloud, gripping on the metal bars harder.

"Because it would make the great trickster happy?!" Niou shouted and raised his hands high up in the air.

"Masaharu, stop it with your selfish requests." His seatmate Yagyuu said. "It's not right to tell Jackal-kun that."

Marui tried to spit his gum on Niou's face but as always, Niou successfully dodged it.

"Nice try, gum boy." He sneered. The gum ended up hitting the person behind the trickster.

"It's sticky da ne! Atsushi, get it off me, da ne!" The person who got hit by the gum, Yanagisawa Shinya to be exact, yelled at his seatmate. His seatmate sighed.

"Curse you." Marui grumbled and turned away from him.

"He looks more jealous than Akaya is." Niou whispered to Yagyuu. Then he looked at his kouhai, who was trying though failing badly to switch places with Jackal. "…Or not."

The ride had soon ended and they left the ride. Sanada, Yukimura and Yanagi were all waiting for them.

"Look! Renji got me a cactus!" Yukimura happily told them as he showed them a half of a cactus.

"That…" Yagyuu muttered as he fixed his glasses in place. "…That is a cactus?"

"But…is it still alive?" Marui scratched his head as he stared at the poor plant. It was cut into half and it looked like it was dying.

"Of course it is." Sanada assured. Yukimura beamed and held the plant softly.

"It was hard winning against Fuji-san and Tezuka-san in the game so we decided to split the prize." Yukimura explained. "Tezuka-san was very competitive, he even used Muga no Kyouchi and Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami in order to win against us. He was really willing to win for Fuji-san…"

"How did he use it on a shoot-a-duck-to-win-the-prize game?" Kirihara asked. All the others sweatdropped.

"Seriously, how did he use it?" Jackal repeated. Everyone shrugged.

"I bet that that cactus won't live for another three hours." Marui said, putting his hands on his pockets.

"Actually, it would only live for about an hour and fifty-two minutes." Yanagi clarified.

"I'd want something like that too!" Ann said and eyed the cactus. Kirihara quickly got alarmed and disappeared. And when he returned, he was holding a small teddy bear.

"Here you go!" He panted and handed him the bear. "I won that over there."

"Hmm?" Ann muttered. "I have tons of this at home though, given by some guys in school when I returned. I want something rare."

Kirihara disappeared for a moment again and returned, now holding a deformed bunny. "There! I'm sure that's pretty rare! I took off one of its eyes and painted it green!"

"It's distorted." Ann said. "I actually want something different."

Kirihara disappeared again.

The other guys looked at Ann with a bit of fright.

"Is it just me or did she became eviler?" Niou said. All of them nodded. Ann then sneezed.

"Here you go, Ann-san." Yagyuu offered her a clean handkerchief he got from his pocket.

"Thank you, Yagyuu-sempai!" Ann happily took the small piece of cloth.

"I got you a Buddha!"

"Sanada, don't you think that that's fun to ride?" Yukimura pointed the place for bump cars. All of them turned to that place.

"Sounds cool!" Kirihara exclaimed, still holding the Buddha in his hands.

"Would you get that Buddha away from us?" Marui told him.

"It would be fun riding the bump cars!" Ann said. "Let's try it out!"

They all went to the bump cars to have some fun, Rikkai style.

* * *

"Wait, I don't know how to drive." Marui worriedly said. Ann looked at him.

"I thought you were a tensai?" Ann sarcastically asked her sempai. Marui scratched his head.

"Well…"

"Then sit with me! It's really easy you know," Ann told him. "Maybe you'd learn if you watch me up close!"

"Somebody's going to score a point!" Niou cheered. Yukimura had already took a car, with Sanada following him.

"Hey! I don't know how to drive too!" Kirihara whined.

"Sure. You said that last time." Ann said. Kirihara pouted. "When we baked cake."

"But I really don't know how to…"

"Hey, are you guys going to play or not?" Yukimura told them and smiled his _play with me or die_ smile at them. Their buchou can be very childish at times.

Marui sat beside Ann on the bump car while Kirihara was alone. Yukimura was having fun, he kept on bumping Sanada, over and over, and over again. Sanada was helpless, if he hits Yukimura back, he'd be sure to receive one of the buchou's bitch smiles. The bitch smile is the only one that can match his bitch slap.

Niou, on the other hand, found a victim to play with. There was this Hyotei player with a blue hat, and he enjoyed irritating him. Yanagi started calculating how he should drive and hit the others too. Yagyuu and Jackal were struggling on driving, though not really that good but they still can drive. And Kirihara…well, he didn't really know how to drive so he kept on hitting the wall and wasn't even able to move away from it. Ann and Marui took the opportunity and started hitting his car.

"Hey, stop that!" Kirihara shouted at Ann.

"Come on Kirihara-kun! You can do a lot more better than that!" Ann laughed as she watched Kirihara hit the wall simultaneously; it was like a video being played over and over again.

"Yeah, Akaya! You can do better!" Marui sneered and laughed at his kouhai.

"You're not even driving." Niou, who just passed by said and snorted. "Great job, ever great tensai."

"Hey, Ann." Marui was twitching; she can see that. "Can I try and drive for a while?"

Ann blinked, then let go of the stirring wheel. "Uh…sure sempai."

"Niou, you're going down." Marui cursed and targeted to hit Niou. He then went into full speed and headed towards his direction.

"Look! I'm driving! I'm driving!" Kirihara, who had just managed to get away from the wall, shouted happily. "Beat that, Tachiba—"

Ann and Marui's car hit his.

"Hey!" Ann shouted. It was a really strong impact.

"Oh?" Niou grimaced. "Was Bun-chan trying to hit me?"

The trickster's car then bounced.

"That was for hitting me, you stupid insane human!" The Hyotei regular Shishido suddenly hit Niou. Niou turned to him and glared.

"Are you challenging the great trickster, hat boy?" Niou questioned.

"Lameass." Shishido grunted. Niou ran after him.

"Shishido-san! Please don't do that!" His doubles partner, Choutarou warned. "We might get in trouble again!"

"Masaharu, stop this madness!" Yagyuu scolded him, tailing his car everywhere.

"It's them." Marui and Kirihara muttered at the same time. Ann blinked, then saw Yanagi heading for them.

"Watch out! Yanagi-san is heading towards us!" Ann got the handle and dodged.

"The probability of them dodging my attack: 76.89 percent." Yanagi said, slowly stopping from driving. "And the probability of them accidentally hitting Seiichi, 100 percent."

"Whoa!" Marui and Ann shouted and hit Yukimura's car. Yukimura turned to them and smiled…dangerously.

"The probability of this causing chaos, 123.8762 percent. It may not look like it, but Seiichi sure is angry. Someone had challenged him finally."

Yukimura turned his car into Ann and Marui's direction, his smile still on his face as he aimed for them. The two gulped and readied themselves for their deaths.

"Akaya! No slacking off! Don't waste your time hitting the wall!" Sanada neared Kirihara at a slow pace, passing by in the middle of Yukimura and Ann, and sadly causing Yukimura to hit him instead.

Yukimura's hit was so strong, Sanada's car almost bounced.

"I still can't get out of here!" Kirihara whined and hit the wall again, after his short triumph of being able to move a while ago.

"Maybe he really doesn't know how to drive." Jackal said and sweatdropped.

"I'm so sorry Genichirou!" Yukimura apologized, nearing the dumbfounded fukubuchou.

"I-it's okay." Sanada stammered.

"Okay then!" Yukimura smiled and drove away.

"Sanada's aura looks so gloomy." Jackal said. Yanagi appeared beside him.

"He's sad. You don't need data to see that." Yanagi said and Jackal nodded.

"Meehh…This is getting boring, that Shishido guy already walked out." Niou whined.

"How couldn't he? You destroyed his hat." Yagyuu told him and the trickster, as usual, ignored the bespectacled gentleman.

"Do you know what would've happened if Yukimura-san hit us?" Ann chuckled. Marui smiled at what she said.

"We could've been swept away." They started laughing. Kirihara looked at them blankly.

"Can we go to the merry-go-round now?" He suggested shyly. Ann and Marui stopped laughing and looked at him.

"You really are childish Akaya." Marui rolled his eyes. Ann blinked, then smiled at him.

"Sounds fun!" She said. Kirihara smiled widely. Now Marui was the one to stare at them blankly.

"Sempais!" Ann called out to the others, and they all turned to look at her. "Can we check the merry-go-round out?"

They first looked at her, then at the demon ace, then they nodded knowingly and headed out of the bump cars…though Yukimura seemed to have enjoyed crushing the others and wanted to play a bit more. But, it was their dear kouhai's request and it was really hard not to grant his wish.

"Seriously, Akaya, why do you want to ride that so badly?" Marui demanded as he eyed the ride his kouhai wanted to play on.

"Well…" Kirihara said, looking down on the floor as they walked toward the said ride. "Someone told me a long time ago that if you ride a merry-go-round on a grand opening of an amusement park, the horses will magically become real."

Ann secretly slapped her forehead as the regulars immediately turned to their vice-captain, the culprit.

"Genichirou?" The data master questioned. He was pretty much sure that he was the only one who would tell such an idiotic thing to the poor boy. Sanada gulped.

"Probably he told that to get rid of Akaya so that he and buchou would be alone together." Niou whispered to Jackal and the latter only nodded in agreement. "As always…Sanada."

"Seriously, Sanada has issues." Marui grumbled as he put his hand behind his head and blew his gum. Sanada glared at him.

"Akaya is such a pitiful entity, being told of something as ridiculous as that." Yagyuu said in complete disappointment.

"His demented aura is getting stronger…" Jackal said nonchalantly, glancing at the fukubuchou.

"Akaya, did you know that if you are one of the firsts to ride those horses, the magic fairy of the amusement parks will give you that horse?" Yukimura stated as he patted Kirihara's head. "So, let us not waste our time standing here, let's go to the merry-go-round and ride those magical horses!"

Sanada's eyes sparkled. Yukimura had just helped him for the first time ever! Small droplets of tears started to form on the fukubuchou's eyes. Sap.

"Poor boy, seeing the wrong light." All the regulars, also including Ann said as they all watched Yukimura drag the boy.

* * *

"I'm gonna ride this horse!" Kirihara announced proudly, patting the fake horse beside him. "It's colorful and really pretty! I'm definitely going to own this one!"

He froze. Marui-sempai and Ann were going to seat beside each other, a little bit far away from him.

"Actually, I wanna sit there!" Kirihara exclaimed as he pointed the horse beside Ann. "It looks cooler!"

"He's hopeless. Puri." Jackal shook his head. Marui sweatdropped and stood up from his horse.

"Niou." He said, approaching Jackal. _Jackal _turned to him. "Next time you want to pass off as Jackal, make sure you hide this." He stood behind him and twirled his hair.

"I do not know this Jackal of which you speak." Niou simply said, shrugging as Marui let go of his hair and sighed.

"The ride's already starting!" Kirihara exclaimed, hoping onto the horse beside Ann.

"This is boring." Marui grumbled, slowly returning to his seat on the other side of Ann.

"Well, three people seems to enjoy it." The real Jackal, who was seated beside Yagyuu, said as he eyed Kirihara, Ann and Yukimura.

Yukimura was beside Sanada as usual and he was riding the horse with hell knows what kind of joy he's feeling, Sanada just accompanied him, riding the horse that was moving up and down as the whole ride twirled. It looked really wrong for the rest of them, seeing their _thirty-year-old _fukubuchou ride a child's ride like that. So wrong.

The ride continued on and Ann and Kirihara were enjoying themselves when they suddenly heard some unfamiliar voices shouting.

"Ride faster, Yuuta-kun! Chase me Yuuta-kun!" The voice said.

"Mizuki-san…This ride moves by itself. And I'm only behind you." Another voice replied.

"That's why you never improve, Yuuta-kun. How will you be able to face my destined rival, Fuji Syuusuke if you're that slow?"

"Aniki is not your destined rival, Mizuki-san. And he already beat you."

"What the hell?" Jackal said, completely dumbfounded at the voices' conversation.

"There is 96.32 percent that the voices belong to Mizuki Hajime of St. Rudolph and Seigaku's tensai's brother." Yanagi informed, holding a notebook as he rode the horse.

"I am not just aniki's brother! I'm Fuji Yuuta! Fuji Yuuta!" The one known as Yuuta shouted.

"Same difference." Marui rolled his eyes.

"Nfufufufu, well what do you know, Yuuta-kun. Rikkai Dai Fuzoku." Mizuki said in his oh so gay voice.

"Da ne, he's the one who put gum on my hair da ne." Another person said, pointing at Marui.

"Aren't they umm…" Kirihara scratched his head, contemplating. "What was it? Murigaoka?"

"St. Rudolph." The other one with the ribbon tied on his head said.

"Ahh, them!" Ann said, remembering something. "You're those guys on the street tennis courts!"

"Ah da ne!" Now known as Yanagisawa, exclaimed. "She's that cute girl from Fudoumine da ne! What is she doing with Rikkai Dai da ne?"

"Date." Ann simply said and winked at him.

"All of them?" Yuuta asked doubtingly.

"Well if that's the case, her dating powers must be really strong, nfu." Mizuki said, stroking his chin.

"_These guys are weird."_ All the Rikkai regulars thought.

"No, not really all of them…" Ann mused as she eyed the demon ace. The Rudolphians nodded as they saw her eye Kirihara. Ann then winked again. "Actually, only Niou-sempai!"

"What?!" Kirihara shouted and looked at the trickster, who was waving at him innocently. "Wasn't it supposed to be me?!"

"Who ever told you that?" Ann asked.

"Puri." Niou grinned and glanced at Marui, who wasn't looking amused himself.

The ride stopped, it was already time to go.

"Akaya, come on! We have to leave!" Yagyuu tried to pull the little kouhai off his magical horse. "It's time to leave this ride. We have other places to go too."

"I'm not leaving without this horse!" Kirihara pouted, tightening his hug on the horse. "Not until it becomes alive!"

"Dork." Marui grunted and stepped out of the merry-go-round.

"Akaya, let's go! We have to explore the other rides too, you know." Jackal said and helped Yagyuu pull him. The demon ace struggled.

Ann stared at them at first, then decided to leave the spot. Kirihara watched her go as he struggled, from both against his sempais and against the will to follow her. He decided not to. A magical horse is important too…

A few minutes later, Ann came back holding a colorful horse doll. She stepped up inside the ride again and approached the hardheaded boy.

"Here." She said and handed him the doll. "You know, if that thing becomes alive, you can't bring it just anywhere right?"

Kirihara blinked.

"…And you can't ride the other rides with the rest of us if you have a big horse with you, right? So, here. I think that this is more portable than a magical gigantic horse."

"Where'd you get that?" Marui asked all of a sudden.

"I won it over there." She pointed at a booth. "You think only guys win for girls?"

"Is it just me or did she became kinder?" Niou asked Jackal. Jackal shrugged. "Must've gotten the mood swings from Marui."

"If this guy is the one with you…" Ann glared a little, just a little, at Kirihara and continued, "…You'll need someone who'll take good care of him. He needs someone who's as energetic and idiotic as him. He also needs a babysitter."

"Give me that!" Kirihara said and grabbed the doll. "Don't talk like you know me so well."

"Actually, I do know you well." Ann shrugged. "Your birthday, blood type, type of girl, special talent…everything. And I only need to know one thing to be able to tell. And that is that you're an idiot."

"Where'd you know all of that?" Niou asked suspiciously.

"Yanagi-sempai." She simply said. "We call each other really often."

"Speaking of Yanagi-kun, where are they now?" Yagyuu politely asked. "Yukimura-kun and Sanada-kun is gone as well."

"Them? I think Yukimura mentioned something about bump cars." Jackal scratched his head.

"Oh."

Ann looked at Kirihara once again and offered a hand. "So, are we going to stay here forever or are we going to explore some rides? I saw a great place where I'm sure that someone like you would enjoy…" She said gallantly.

Kirihara's eyes sparkled. "Really?"

She smiled at him.

* * *

"So…" Marui popped his gum. He didn't quite expect THIS to be the place Ann was talking about. "…Teacups, huh…"

"Well, since Kirihara wants something as childish as merry-go-rounds, I thought that he might enjoy something like this too." She answered, putting on a thoughtful look on her face.

"Why would I enjoy something like this? This place is full of six-year-olds!" Kirihara whined.

"Che. Like the merry-go-round wasn't." Marui put his hands on his pockets. Kirihara gave him a small glare.

"There were St. Rudolph people there!" He defended his magical place for magical horses.

"Those guys were freaks." Marui said and looked away.

"Come on, guys. Don't fight now!" Ann patted both their backs. "Let's go check it out!"

"Fine."

They entered the place to see what it's like in the magical world of teacups, together with the trickster, the gentleman, and the Jackal.

"Akaya, why don't you try it?" Marui sneered and watched the teacups twirl around.

"No."

"It'll be fun." Niou added.

"No."

"It's enjoying!" Ann happily added as well.

"Stupid sempais and Tachibana trying to make me ride this stuff...fine." Kirihara grumbled and took a seat on one of the teacups. The others watched him.

"Welcome to the club." A voice told Kirihara from another teacup. The ace turned to find who said that.

"Welcome to the club." The voice repeated and it looked irritated, just like him.

"Welcome to the club."

"Gakuto, please stop welcoming everyone who rides this with that sort of greeting…" A Kansai voice warned the first one. The other seemed to ignore him though.

"Welcome to the club." He repeated as the teacup twirled around.

"Stop saying that." Kirihara grunted and crossed his arms.

"Welcome to the _'I was forced to ride this by stupid persons/I'm here to baby-sit/I lost a bet/I'm stupid because I really want to ride this _club_._" He repeated once more.

"Hyotei again?" Kirihara said. The owner of the Kansai voice greeted him.

"You are Kirihara Akaya from Rikkai Dai, right?" He queried, then introduced himself as well. "Oshitari Yuushi."

"Yuushi, can we go now?" The other voice whined. "Jirou's already sleeping!"

"Gakuto…" Oshitari started. "Jirou is always sleeping."

Kirihara tried to take glance at the other person on 'Hyotei's teacup' and found one orange-head sleeping next to the bespectacled guy.

"Who's that?" He inquired, slightly curious on who that Sleeping Beauty was. Oshitari glanced a bit at Jirou and answered,

"He's Jirou, one of our teammates and the reason why I'm here." He said in his oh so husky voice.

"And him? Why is he here?" Kirihara eyed the acrobatic player of Hyotei.

"He lost a bet and was forced to tag along."

"Oh."

"Welcome to the club." Gakuto repeated with his bored voice when a bunch of kids joined the ride. Kirihara did nothing but sweatdrop.

Suddenly Sleeping Beauty's nose sniffed something and he awoke from his deep sleep. Kirihara felt the enthusiasm of the boy.

"Marui-kun's here!!" He shouted and jumped up. "Marui-kun!!"

His fanboy senses immediately spotted the self-proclaimed tensai of Rikkai Dai. He waved at him energetically.

Marui's gum popped.

"Uh oh…" He gulped as he saw the fanboy run towards him.

"Ne, sempai, is that your friend? He's waving at you." Ann pointed at the running boy.

"Marui. Run." Jackal said though Marui knew the drill: Run when Hyotei fanboys are around.

Marui ran for his life, grabbing Ann and tagging her along on his great escape.

"Sempai!" Ann shouted as she was dragged out of the place.

"Marui-kun!!" Jirou shouted and tried to catch up with them. "Wait for me! And is that your girlfriend?! Wai! She's pretty! But you can't replace meeee!!"

"Ooooiii, sempai!!" Kirihara shouted and jumped out of the teacup and ran after them.

"Purriii!!" Niou's grin couldn't get any wider. He then grabbed Yagyuu and also ran, on a different direction, that is.

"Oi, where are you guys going?!" Jackal called out to Niou and Yagyuu.

"We're going to install cam—I mean, take pictures of this wonderful place!" Niou answered and disappeared with Yagyuu.

"Take care of Akaya!" Jackal heard Yagyuu's voice tell him.

"Hey, wait!!" Jackal tried to follow them. "…Akaya's…already gone…"

* * *

"That was close…" Marui panted and rested somewhere away from the fanboy. Ann too, took a rest beside him.

"Sempai, what was that for?" Ann complained as she panted heavily. Marui leaned against a wall and gave his apologies.

"Sorry…It's just that that Akutagawa from Hyotei keeps on hugging me whenever he sees me, I just can't stand it."

"Oh," She muttered to let him know she understands. "In short, he has a crush on you?" She giggled.

"Well…I don't really know." Marui answered, then looked at her doubtingly. "Hey…What are you implying by saying that?"

"I'm not implying anything…except for the fact that a lot of guys likes Marui-sempai." She laughed at him and he faked a glare. "Like Akiyama-sensei!"

"Stop it."

"By the way…where are we?" Ann asked, completely changing the subject. They both looked around to find out where they really were.

"House of Mirrors…" Marui muttered as he read the sign.

"Cool! Let's check it out!" Ann said and went inside. Marui immediately followed her.

- - -

"Look at that, sempai!" She happily said as she pointed at the mirror at Marui's side. "You look fat."

"Hey, I'm not fat…" Marui defended and pouted at her. "Am I?"

Ann shook her head. "No, it's just the reflection. You look funny."

Marui closed his eyes and continued walking deeper into the place. "And you look thin in there."

Ann quickly turned to the mirror beside her. "I don't really look thin…do I?"

"Yes, you do." He replied and continued walking.

"Hey, that's not fair sempai, I told you that you weren't fat…" She followed him and walked beside him. "…You should tell me that I'm not thin!"

"Fine, you're not."

She chuckled. And they continued on with exploring the house of mirrors.

"Hey, you look short in there!" Marui let out a silent laugh as he pointed the mirror. Ann pouted at what he said.

"You're short even if there aren't any weird mirrors around too." She crossed her arms and looked away.

'_Now I know why Akaya loses to her in terms of insults…she's good.'_ Marui thought and stared at her. _'But, I'm not gonna lose that easily.'_

"Well, at least I'm still taller than you." He shot at her.

Ann glowered as she closed her eyes and pointed at the mirror on Marui's right. "At least I don't look like a rock on any mirror."

"What?" Marui looked at the mirror beside him and observed the reflection. It was weird, they had same black colored shirt but…last time he remembered he wasn't wearing an old cap.

"Wait, that's not me, that's Sanada…" Marui narrowed his eyes. Ann took a peek and found out that it really was Sanada.

"Oh…I thought it was you…since…you know, same color of shirt…" Ann scratched her head and smiled sheepishly.

"You two…" Sanada mumbled.

'_If I'm gonna be mistaken as Sanada whenever I wear a black shirt, I might as well not wear one forever.' _Marui thought gloomily. _'I don't want to look like a rock…'_

He popped his gum again.

"Sanada-san, what are you doing all alone in here?" Ann questioned the stoic fukubuchou. Sanada didn't answer just yet.

"Sanada?" Marui repeated for her.

"I…got lost." He finally answered them. Then he heard a faint snort from the both of them. "Do you two know where Yukimura and Renji are?"

"Sanada-san…got lost in that age…" Ann whispered with a chuckle. Marui snorted even more.

"When you think about it, he and I are of the same age, but still…getting lost…when you look like someone who's thirty…" Marui started to laugh and so did Ann.

They weren't paying attention to him…

"God, Sanada. Why'd you get lost?" Marui said as he laughed. "And where's buchou and Yanagi?"

"Sanada-san, don't worry, we're here with you. You'll never get lost again!" Ann continued to laugh. Sanada can feel the mockery.

Oh yes, Sanada can feel it. Dementedness…

"This is foolish." Sanada said and walked away. The two immediately followed him.

"Hey, Sanada, calm down. We were only kidding!" Marui patted his back.

"Yeah, Sanada-san, we'll help you find them!" Ann added, to help comfort the poor demented soul. "So, where'd you last see Yuki-nii and Yanagi-san?"

"Outside this place, just about a few minutes ago." He answered.

"Maybe they went inside here as well, let's explore this place more before we go out." Marui concluded. Ann nodded in agreement.

They continued looking for Yukimura and Yanagi inside of the House of Mirrors. While walking, Ann and Marui had still continued giving little comments about Sanada being lost, Sanada was oblivious to it anyway. He was busy looking for Yukimura too. They also stopped from time to time to look at the mirrors and laugh at it. It seemed that Marui and Ann were enjoying it, but who the hell knows what Sanada was feeling. Probably a mixed feeling of anxiousness and diarrhea. Poor guy.

After a few minutes of searching, they finally found Yukimura and Yanagi, looking at a mirror and enjoying themselves. Sanada quickly approached them. Yukimura also spotted him and smiled.

"Genichirou! Where have you been?" Yukimura asked worriedly. While Yukimura talked to Sanada, Yanagi approached the other two.

"Why are you two the only ones here?" He asked. Yukimura and Sanada turned to them and listened.

"Well, we were just exploring the amusement park and went inside this place, that's all." Marui answered.

"And where's Akaya and the others?" Yukimura added to the question.

"They—" Marui paused when Ann answered for him.

"We were with them a while ago until Marui-sempai dragged me with him away from his boyfriend. They're still probably at the Teacups ride."

"What boyfriend?" Marui demanded. Ann shrugged.

"Akutagawa Jirou from Hyotei, I believe?" Yanagi asked and Ann nodded. "Ah, I understand. And he dragged you with him?"

Ann nodded once more.

"Then, there's 20 percent that the main reason he ran away because he doesn't want Akutagawa Jirou to be near him." Yanagi informed all of them. "The remaining percent was because you want to take Ann-san away from the others, more overly from Akaya."

"But the remaining percent was at least 80 percent!" Marui shouted. "That is not true!"

Ann merely blinked. So did Yukimura and Sanada, while they stared blankly at the self-proclaimed tensai, of course.

"Hey, are you saying that I ran away with her because I wanted to be alone with her?!" Marui demanded, glaring at the data master and his trusted data.

"That was your hidden motive, am I wrong?" Yanagi questioned the tensai as well. "Or do you want the exact probability? 20 percent's actually 18.876 percent."

"You're insane." Marui rolled his eyes and got a new stick of gum from his pocket.

"Marui-kun tends to be selfish at times, na Sanada?" Yukimura smiled. Sanada agreed. "Ann-chan, where'd you say Akaya was again?"

"The teacups, Yuki-nii." Ann replied and smiled as well.

"Renji, Genichirou, let us go look for the others, shall we?" He said softly and the other two nodded. "We'll be going then, Ann-chan, Marui-kun."

Ann and Marui waved goodbye at them as they left the place. As soon as Yukimura passed by Marui, Marui heard him mutter a 'good luck' to him. He raised a brow, thinking of what that meant.

"So, sempai." Ann started, looking straight at Marui. "Should we go as well?"

"Well, I am pretty hungry…" Marui said as he clutched his stomach. "Can we go get something to eat first?"

"Sure."

And both of them went out of the House of Mirrors…

* * *

"What should we eat?" Ann asked, clinging onto Marui's arms. A tinge of red was visible on his cheeks.

"How about that?" Marui pointed at a little stall a few meters away from them. Ann blinked.

"Cotton candy? Are you sure that's enough for you?" Ann asked doubtingly. "You really just want sweets, don't you?"

Marui smiled sheepishly and gave her a peace sign.

"Fine."

- - -

"Two cotton candies please." Ann told the clerk. The clerk nodded and prepared the treat.

"It's been long since I last ate cotton candy. I usually eat cakes and chocolate on Kanagawa…" Marui suddenly told her.

"Well, feel the softness of cotton candy again, sempai." She smiled and handed him the blue cotton candy. He smiled back and accepted it.

"Thank you."

Marui started eating it. Ann just watched him do so. He soon noticed that she wasn't eating hers and blinked.

"Aren't you gonna eat that?" He asked and munched on his sweets. "It's pretty tasty, you know."

Ann shook her head and said, "Not yet."

"Okay then…" He said and continued eating. They were then disturbed by an announcement that was heard all over the amusement park.

"_Calling the attention of everyone, we have a lost child on our hands. A boy with black hair, about 168 cm in height, has green eyes and wears a yellow shirt. Again, calling on to Kirihara Akaya's guardians, please immediately go to our office and claim your child…"_

Ann and Marui blinked. Then looked at each other.

"168 centimeters?" Marui asked particularly no one.

"Black hair and green eyes?" Ann asked as well.

"Kirihara Akaya?!" They both exclaimed.

They slapped their foreheads.

"Are we the ones who're supposed to take care of all of them all the time?" Marui sighed.

"Your teammates really have bad sense of direction, don't they?" Ann muttered and shook her head in disappointment and pure hopelessness. "They get lost pretty easily…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on, let's go fetch Kirihara." Ann said and took hold of Marui's hands, dragging him with her.

"Hey, wait!"

* * *

"You guys!!" Kirihara immediately ran towards them to give them a hug as soon as they entered the office.

"What were you doing? Getting lost like that? You even have to get help from these people." Marui said and rolled his eyes.

Kirihara pouted. "It's because you guys ran away!!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, sir, but could we please know who you guys are?" The lady asked Ann.

"Uh…we're his frie—"

"Actually we're his guardians." Marui cut in. "Um…uh, I'm Yukimura Seiichi and this is my wife…uh…Sanada Genichirou. And he's our son."

Ann froze. Why? Why did he do that? Marui-sempai just called her Sanada!

"Hey!" Both Kirihara and Ann yelled at him.

"Why did you call her your wife?!"

"Why did you call me Sanada-san?!"

He hushed the both of them. He whispered, "Do you think they would let us go if we told them we're just friends?"

"Ooh…"

"But I'm not happy about it." Kirihara crossed his arms. Ann looked at him, then smiled.

She patted his back and said, "Here you go, Marui-sem…I mean, your father told me that it tastes good."

She gave him her cotton candy and Kirihara's eyes sparkled with joy.

"Thank you!"

'_You don't really have to be a parent to claim someone who's lost…but I'm starting to believe that this guy is their child, seeing it this way…' _The lady thought as she sweatdropped. _'Let's pretend I do anyway, to get them out of here.'_

"You can go now, you know." The lady told them and bowed.

"Come on, come on." Marui patted his kouhais' backs. "We need to go, right?"

He dragged the two out of the office to continue on with their adventure.

He smirked, truly self-satisfied.

True, Marui and Ann needn't to be husband and wife to get Kirihara but why is it that Marui did that again? Well, who knows? Probably he truly is a tensai.

* * *

"So, where are we supposed to go now?" Marui asked the two of them as they walked around the carnival.

"Maybe we need to find the others first before we can go to any other rides…" Ann answered.

"Hey, look over there!" Kirihara excitedly pointed at another booth. "Can we play that?"

"No." Marui and Ann both answered.

"But I want to try bloodshot on shoot-the-duck-to-win-the-prize…" He pouted. "Why can Tezuka-san use his moves on a game while I can't?"

"How's about we go eat more?" Marui pointed at some food stalls. "I'm hungry."

"I knew that cotton candy is not enough to satisfy you…" Ann shook her head. "We have to find everyone first, ne?"

"Fine…" The two boys, said. Marui handed Kirihara a stick of gum and the ace got it and ate it.

They continued on walking and passed by some Seigaku regulars.

"Unya Momo! She told me that I'd meet someone who's as good as me in acrobatics! Isn't that great?!"

"And she told me that I'll like someone who's short…"

"Eiji, watch out! You are gonna bum—"

"Nya!" The acrobatic boy of Seigaku bumped into the Hyotei acrobatic player.

"Watch it, you cat."

They watched the scene unfold.

"What are they talking about?" Kirihara asked his sempai. Marui just shrugged.

"Fortune-telling!" Ann exclaimed. "Over there! Can we try it out?"

It was hard resisting her, so they agreed.

They entered the small booth and found an old lady sitting on a comfy chair, together with her crystal ball.

"Welcome to my small and humble booth. I was expecting you." She said slowly. "Would you like me to see your futures?"

"Yes please." Ann answered.

"Grandma, I've already prepared what you asked for. It was really hard finding all of them so I had to look hard for them. But now that I've them, I'm giving them to you. This sucks, I was supposed to go with Kamio-kun tonight. Oh hey Ann. And this is getting boring, I haven't even explored the whole place, instead I'm helping grandma with this. Geez, I hate it."

"Ibu-kun!" Ann exclaimed as her friend entered the place. The other two boys just stared at them.

"You." The old lady suddenly pointed at Marui. Marui turned to her and raised a brow. "You will have an unexpected happening ahead of you, something that you really wouldn't think will happen. You'll be very lucky in the future, and you will meet a lot of new people. You'll also get bitten by a **dog** two months from now."

Marui gulped at the thought of himself getting bitten by a dog.

"I understand." Shinji said and walked out of the place again as soon as Ann finished talking with him. "I'll be going again."

"So, what happened?" Ann asked curiously.

"She said I'll be bitten by a dog two months from now." Marui said, a bit doubting,

"And you…" The old lady now pointed at Kirihara. He gulped. He didn't want to get bitten by a dog like his sempai will two months from now. "You'll be very aggravated when you find out about certain **news**. Also, be calm and never hurt animals. Control your temper, or else it'll be the cause of your downfall. Ahead of you are a lot of pranks, mishaps and unluckiness, beware."

"When will I ever get good news?" Kirihara blew his own gum.

"You'll be a very good tennis player, if that's what you wanted to hear."

"Please, I already know that."

"What about me?" Ann pointed herself and asked eagerly.

"You…" She started, looking directly at Ann. "You better be careful on choosing things, always take the right path. You'll be very busy in the future, taking care of a certain person in your school. You'll either be lucky or unlucky, depending on your first **decision**. Always remember to think everything out. Also take care of certain pets, they might get out of hand."

"Let's go." Marui said and walked out of the place. "I don't want to hear my future as getting bitten by a dog."

Kirihara and Ann laughed at him.

"We'll be going then!" Ann said and waved at the lady.

"Please tell your companion to watch his back."

"Yes, we will."

"Oh, Ann…here. I got what you were asking for." Shinji was about to enter the place when Ann and Kirihara went out.

"Thank you, Shinji-kun! I'll be seeing you in school!" Ann said and waved goodbye at the mumbler as well.

"Geez, this is boring." Shinji said nonchalantly and entered the booth again.

"Hey, what's that?" Kirihara asked, curious as to what Ann got.

"It's a secret!" She winked at him. He rolled his eyes. "Marui-sempai! Wait up!"

* * *

"Where have you guys been?" Yagyuu asked the three. Marui, Ann and Kirihara bowed.

"We're sorry!"

"And we've heard an announcement that Akaya got lost." Yukimura said. "Just like Genichirou!"

"Pfft. You guys are idiots." Niou smirked.

"I still can't believe that Sanada and Kirihara got lost in here." Jackal added.

"Don't be foolish. I was not lost. I just got separated and wasn't able to go back immediately."

"That's the same thing." Jackal said.

"Where do you guys want to go to next?" Yukimura asked.

A certain ride lit up just now, and they all turned to look at it.

"There!" They all said and pointed it.

"Ferris Wheel, ne?" Yukimura smiled. "Let's go then."

* * *

"It's really big…" Kirihara looked up at it. "…Awesome."

"Looks fun!" Ann said and looked up at it as well.

"Going in!" Yukimura entered one of the passenger cabs of the wheel, with Yanagi and Sanada following him. "See you then."

The ride moved up a bit. It's the others turn to hop in.

"Go on." Niou told Marui. Marui rolled his eyes and entered. And he somewhat heard Niou saying 'Puri'. Ann closely followed and entered as well.

"Hopping in!" She exclaimed and took a seat.

"This is great! Ferris wheels are coo—" Kirihara was about to enter when Niou closed the door and signaled for the next cab. "Hey!"

"Hey!" Marui and Ann shouted as the wheel moved up again. "Why are we the only ones in here?!"

"Puri." Niou smirked as he watched the wheel turn.

Marui slumped down on the seat and sighed exasperatedly. "I knew it."

"Sempai!!" Kirihara fumed, strangling the trickster. "Why are they the only ones in there?! I was going in! Why did you close the door?!"

"Akaya, calm down…" Yagyuu instructed him, then turned to the trickster. "I'm sure Masaharu has a good explanation as to why he did this…"

Niou shrugged, then grinned. "Trickster purposes?"

Jackal slapped his forehead. "That's a great excuse, Niou."

- - -

"Arrgh! That Niou!" Marui kicked the floor.

Ann blinked, then thought of an idea. "Sempai,"

"What?" He turned to her. Marui saw an evil glint in her eyes and an evil smirk to match it.

"You want to get revenge, right?" She asked knowingly. Marui nodded. "Then let's get your sweet revenge. I want to try and trick Niou-sempai sometime too, and looks like this is the chance to do it."

"How are we going to do that?" Marui asked with brows raised. Ann's smirk got wider and she pointed at the ceiling of the small place.

"Cameras." She answered and whispered to his ears. "We'll give him what he wants…"

- - -

"Masaharu, what are you planning to do now?" Yagyuu asked, resting on the seat of their cab. Kirihara was tied to stop him from jumping out of the ride.

"You sure are bored, Niou…" Jackal put his hands at the back 0of his head and relaxed at the seat. "What's your prank on them now?"

"Sempai!! Let me go! I'm going to their cab!" Kirihara struggled. "Why did you let them be alone in there?!"

"Puri." Niou smirked. "I've installed a recorder and some cameras in there. We'll see everything from here, so don't cha worry, little one."

"If you wanted take a video of love love again, why didn't you let Akaya be with them? Why did you leave him here?" Jackal asked.

"First of, there's nothing romantic about Akaya, except when he's really serious. And second, I want to see someone fume while I watch."

"This is unfair!!" Kirihara complained aloud. "Let me go!"

Niou turned the speaker and the screen on and watched the scene in Marui and Ann's cab.

"See? I told you we'll see it!"

They watched it quietly.

"_Marui-sempai…I've been wanting to tell you this since we've met each other…" _They saw Ann looking down on the floor as she spoke. A tint of red can also be seen on her face.

"This is a great show!" Niou said with passion. "Anyone got popcorn?"

"Here, Masaharu." Yagyuu handed him a bucket.

"_What is it, Ann-chan?" _ Marui said huskily, almost in a whisper. He neared Ann and sat beside her, almost only centimeters away from her.

The rope tied to Kirihara loosened, and he was close to being free. They continued on watching.

"_The truth is, sempai…" _Ann muttered, the blush on his cheeks getting redder as she spoke. She looked up at him.

"She's gonna confess!!" Niou shouted in excitement, plopping a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

Kirihara got out of the ropes and tried to get out of the cab by jumping out of the window. Yagyuu and Jackal quickly took hold of him.

"Let me go! I'm going in there and kill sempai!"

"Do you want to die and fall off?!" Jackal scolded him. Kirihara struggled.

"…_I really like you, sempai." _Ann told him. Marui smiled warmly at her.

"_I like you…no, I love you too, Ann-chan." _Marui said as he inched closer to her. He leaned for a kiss.

"Ooh! Ooh! Here comes the good part!" Niou plopped more popcorn in his mouth as he watched Marui's lips nearing Ann's.

Jackal turned to the screen and took a glance. His eyes widened.

The screen turned black.

"What?!" Niou stood up, almost hitting his head on the ceiling of the cab. "What happened?"

He checked the screen and the speakers, they had all turned off. "My show!"

"Hey Niou, did you see that?" Jackal asked the trickster and pointed at the screen.

"What was it, Jackal-kun?" Yagyuu inquired.

"That! Didn't you see?!"

"All I see now is black…" Niou answered gloomily. "Black screen and Akaya's black aura…"

They took a glance at the kouhai and saw him sitting quietly on the floor, looking really gloomy.

"I could've sworn I saw their mouths say 'puri'…" Jackal rubbed his head. "Hn…must be my imagination."

* * *

"Hahaha!" Ann laughed and clutched her stomach. "That was great sempai!!"

"Yeah, I wonder what Niou looks like right now!" Marui laughed as well. "That ought to teach him not to mess with us!"

"Yep!" Both laughed harder.

"Sempai sure was good in acting!" She complimented. Marui scratched his head.

"Not really." He said, smiling sheepishly at her. "It's only because tensais are good in everything…"

"Sure…" Ann chuckled and looked outside. Her eyes widened in awe, they were at the top and there were fireworks. "Sempai! Look!"

Marui sat beside her and looked outside again. His eyes widened as well.

Colorful fireworks filled the night sky. It was beautiful.

"Look at that sempai! The red fireworks!" She pointed at one firework. Marui nodded.

"The blue one looks nice too." He said and watched the blue one spread its colorfulness.

They looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh, sempai!" Ann exclaimed, rummaging through her bag. Marui watched her do so. She got something and handed it to him. "Here, I told Ibu-kun to get it for me. It's a special cotton candy."

"Ahh, thank…you." Marui muttered and accepted the offer. She smiled and took two more from her bag.

"And these two are for Susumu and Suzu." She happily told him. "Tell them I got that from the Mafia boss, ne?"

Marui smiled warmly at her. "Sure."

A red ribbon escaped from her bag and flew out.

_Maybe nothing was really acted. Probably all of it was true..._

"Puri. You can't get away from the trickster that easy…"

_**END**_

* * *

_**Two months later…**_

Kirihara lazily fiddled his pen. English class was boring, school was boring, and life without a certain brunette was boring. Classes again…he barely listened to the teacher's discussion. He sighed, and looked at the windows. He blinked. Was that a brown flower? And was it moving? He raised his hands up high and the teacher called him.

"Yes, Kirihara-kun? Is there something that you don't understand in our lessons?" The teacher demanded, looking at him directly.

The demon ace scratched his head, then said. "Is there such a thing as a brown flower?"

The teacher laughed a bit. "I remembered the transfer student ask me the same question before, Tachibana Ann was it? She asked me almost the same thing." The teacher smiled.

"Sure." Kirihara grunted.

"Going to the bathroom? Hurry up then." The teacher's face turned sour then continued on with the discussion. Kirihara quickly got out of the room.

He ran on the halls and spotted someone familiar, heading for the principal's office. "Ann?!"

She turned left. And Kirihara followed. He then bumped into some people. "Sempais!"

"Did you see her too?" Niou asked eagerly, and was followed by Marui and Jackal.

"We've seen Ann-san walking on the halls a while ago, so we decided to follow." Yagyuu told him.

"Ann's here!" Kirihara shouted, pointing at the corner. "She turned left, I think to the principal's office!"

The party of five immediately ran towards the principal's office and saw Ann enter the room. They quickly followed and peeked at the door's small window. Ann took a seat in front of the principal and talked to her, they of course, listened.

"Tachibana-san, have you already made your decision?" Tsukuda Moriko, the principal asked. Ann nodded.

"What are they talking about?" Kirihara asked curiously. Everyone else shrugged.

"After your short stay here in our school, I'm sure that you've chosen one for our real purpose, am I correct?"

Ann nodded once more.

"Purpose?" Yagyuu questioned. "What purpose?"

Ann took a glance at the door and spotted them. They too, saw that she knew that they were there. They even saw her wink at them.

"She spotted us." Jackal affirmed.

She jumped up from her seat and smiled. She opened the door and revealed the five boys spying. The boys blinked at her and the principal. The principal smiled dangerously at them.

"I, Tachibana Ann from Fudoumine Junior high, have chosen Marui Bunta from class 3-B of Rikkai Dai to be the one to participate in the real Student Visit Program!" She announced.

"Eeeeeeeh?!"

"Puriii??"

"Such a big news." Yagyuu fixed his glasses.

She quickly grabbed Marui and ran outside the office, the other three quickly trailing them. Marui could only blink as Ann included him on her great escape.

"Ann! What is this about?" Marui demanded as they ran.

"Oi! Come back here!" Kirihara fumed and ran as fast as he can. Niou and Jackal followed as well. "I'm coming with you guys!"

"Puri! Us too! I want to show my new movie to you Ann! It's called the Ferris Wheel of love!!" Niou happily stated, running after them as best as he can.

"Ann!" Marui repeated. Ann only winked at him.

"Don't worry, sempai. I've already tied Gokutora so you don't have to worry about getting bit by dogs!

They passed by the three demons of Rikkai, Yanagi, Yukimura and Sanada. Yukimura smiled and followed them on running.

"I want to be Yuki-nii again!" He said.

"Ann-san! Please do slow down!" Yagyuu shouted at her.

"She has already informed all of them, huh." Yanagi said and followed as well. Of course, Sanada too, followed.

"I'm gonna welcome you to Fudoumine, sempai!" Ann happily said tightened her grip on her sempai's hands.

"Ooooii! Come back here!!" Kirihara shouted, still chasing the two.

_This'll be a new start…Maybe…_

* * *

**A/N: **So, this story is finally over…what now? XD I'd like to thank all of those who read and reviewed this fic. I'm really happy you paid attention to my lame fics XD I really thank you guys! Review one last time?

Oh, and here are some cool stuff I'd like to share with you guys…

Of Clips and Ribbons** Fanarts**…A herd of super cool, kya-able fanarts by as always, sempai-sama! XD Go check 'em out on my profile…It'll make your eyes sparkle! Well, mine did.

Annnd…**Community**! A community all about dear Ann-chan! XD _"The Queen of Street Tennis: Tachibana Ann"_ Subscribe if you want some good Ann fics. There're some Ann-fics that weren't categorized that are there, So…yeah.

Adieu!


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